Quotes

Winter hasn’t exited the seasonal weather stage quite yet, but looks like it might be getting ready for its final curtain call. Most of the coldest remaining temperatures are in northern New England and ranging from the Upper Plains through the Rockies.

Winter made its official debut Sunday, but outside of the Rockies and Upper Plains there was little evidence of the season Monday. Forecasts of continuing relatively mild weather through the weekend helped accelerate the price declines that had begun Friday. Monday’s losses were generally in the range of 35-85 cents, with most exceeding half a dollar.

With flat to mildly higher quotes at a few points in the West amid the overall mix, most of the cash market registered declines ranging from about a nickel to 15 cents Tuesday.

The end of a major supply constraint depressed Rockies/Pacific Northwest quotes, but the rest of the market added to Wednesday’s small gains with ones that often were slightly larger Thursday. A soaring natural gas screen following the storage report is expected to keep the general bullish streak going Friday, possibly even igniting a rebound in the Rockies.

Except for plunges in the Rockies, the market ended the week on a considerably stronger price note Friday than some had been expecting. A few Midcontinent pipes (Williams, NGPL-Midcontinent and Reliant-West) were close to either side of flat, but gains at other non-Rockies points ranged from a little less than a dime to more than a dollar (Algonquin citygate). A majority of the upticks were between a dime and a quarter, with much larger ones clustered in Northeast citygates.

Quotes for Transco Zone 6-New York City deliveries soared as high as $7.50 Monday as Northeast electric utilities struggled to cope with high temperatures that generated heat advisories throughout much of the area. The heat sparked the PJM Interconnection grid operator to issue a plea for emergency supplies and sparked a run-up in Nepool (New England) and PJM-West power prices for Tuesday to averages of about $116/MWh in each pool, according to the IntercontinentalExchange trading platform. New York and PJM websites showed hourly prices spiking occasionally up to the $1,000/MWh price cap.

The February aftermarket got off to a fairly strong start Thursday with swing quotes up a few cents from end-of-January levels in most cases and generally about 15-20 cents ahead of apparent monthly indexes.

A California spike that sent border quotes skyrocketing as highas $33 and was accompanied by moderate firmness in the Southwestbasins stood in sharp contrast to a softer overall market Thursday.Outside the California/Southwest region, prices tended to rangefrom barely lower in the Rockies and at a few scattered Gulf Coastpoints to down 15-20 cents at Northeast citygates.

As spot gas prices in California were breaking records again Friday with $61/MMBtu quotes being reported at PG&E’s Citygate, some state officials already started dubbing the upcoming heating season as California’s “winter of discontent.”