Predicted

Other than highs starting to reach the 90-degree area again Wednesday in the Northeast and more modest warm-ups predicted in the Pacific Northwest, the market couldn’t count on much more cooling load than it had before Tuesday. Yet it found enough, coupled with screen support from the previous day’s 11.9-cent rebound by September futures, to achieve substantive gains at a majority of points Tuesday.

Xcel Energy said natural gas use by Colorado customers will likely be higher in September, but prices for the fuel will stay relatively flat. Xcel predicted that average customer bills next month will be lower than they were in September 2008.

As predicted, the near completion of Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) is delivering both pain and gain to gas supply basins, Bentek Energy LLC has found.

As predicted, the near completion of Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) is delivering both pain and gain to gas supply basins, Bentek Energy LLC has found.

Forecasts predicting the number and intensity of hurricanes predicted to affect the United States abound every year, but a Shell Exploration and Production (E&P) executive said last week that a long-term forecast “bluntly, has nothing to do with our preparations.”

Other than slightly warmer trends in the South, weather fundamentals were still light for the gas market as a whole. But as a couple of sources had predicted, the previous day’s 41.4-cent spike by futures was able to propel most points to double-digit gains Tuesday. But continuing issues with excess supply caused a few western locations to be as much as about a nickel lower.

Forecasts predicting the number and intensity of hurricanes predicted to affect the United States abound every year, but a Shell Exploration and Production (E&P) executive said Monday that a long-term forecast “bluntly, has nothing to do with our preparations.”

Saying near-freezing temperatures were predicted to move into a large part of Florida that night, Florida Gas Transmission issued an Overage Alert Day for market-area customers Friday. The tolerance for negative daily imbalances was set at 25%.

As sources had predicted, the cash market fell at most points Friday, pressured lower by warming trends in the Midwest, Midcontinent and South and by the January futures drop of 8.8 cents a day earlier. The usual weekend decline of industrial demand also was a factor in the overall softness.