Levels

High heat levels were returning Monday in some areas that had enjoyed some weekend relief, such as the Northeast, and never really left other areas, such as the South. The resultant power generation load was being felt in rising gas prices at nearly every point. Except for flat to slightly higher numbers for some Rockies pipes, Niagara, and ANR ML7, price increases elsewhere ranged from about a nickel to more than 40 cents at Transco Zone 6-New York City pool. Most were in the vicinity of a dime.

Even with the massive 1 Tcf storage surplus compared to last year’s levels, UBS Warburg’s ever-bullish analyst, Ron Barone, said he expects gas prices to go up and demand to go unsupplied in the not so distant future due to dwindling reserves and declining drilling rig utilization.

Activity continues to grow by leaps and bounds on the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) commodity marketplace as traders who formerly did a significant amount of their business on EnronOnline flock to the ICE platform. The company said average daily activity systemwide is up 30% compared to only one month ago. A total of 630 Bcf of gas was traded on Jan. 9 alone, and 17 million MWh was traded on Jan. 14, setting a new daily record.

Activity continues to grow by leaps and bounds on the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) commodity marketplace as traders who formerly did a significant amount of their business on EnronOnline flock to the ICE platform. The company said average daily activity systemwide is up 30% compared to only one month ago. A total of 630 Bcf of gas was traded on Jan. 9 alone, and 17 million MWh was traded on Jan. 14, setting a new daily record.

Natural gas usage levels are continuing a strong growth trend as more and more consumers are using the commodity to heat their homes. Of the single-family homes constructed in 2000, 70% of them featured natural gas heat, according to the 2000 Residential Natural Gas Market Survey released Friday by the American Gas Association (AGA). Electric heat captured 27%, followed by heating oil at 3%, the survey found.

Projecting that its linepack would rise above maximum target levels over the holiday weekend, Pacific Gas & Electric declared a very stringent systemwide Stage 3 high-inventory OFO for Thursday. The OFO has zero tolerance for positive daily imbalances and carries penalties of $5/Dth.

Expecting linepack to exceed its maximum target levels over the weekend, Pacific Gas & Electric issued a systemwide high-inventory OFO for Saturday. The order had $5/Dth penalties for positive daily imbalances exceeding a 6% tolerance.

Projecting linepack sinking below its minimum target levels over the next few days, Pacific Gas & Electric issued a systemwide Stage 3 low-inventory OFO for today. The OFO carries penalties of $5/Dth. The tolerance for negative daily imbalances is minus 2%.

In his latest review of the California market, FERC Chairman Curt Hebert said that while the levels of interstate natural gas pipeline capacity and intrastate capacity serving the state have risen since the start of the year, the gap between the two has grown even wider and could serve to further constrain delivery points there.