Rains

Due to recent flooding and expected rains, Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) has again revised its expected in-service date for REX-East interim service. Now it expects the service to begin in late April or early May, the pipeline said.

With the dress rehearsal of Tropical Storm Erin bringing some Gulf of Mexico evacuations and drenching rains to the Gulf Coast, oil and natural gas producers on Friday were bracing for the real thing to impact early next week as Hurricane Dean continued to strengthen in the eastern Caribbean.

With the dress rehearsal of Tropical Storm Erin bringing some Gulf of Mexico evacuations and drenching rains to the Gulf Coast, oil and natural gas producers on Friday were bracing for the real thing to impact early next week as Hurricane Dean continued to strengthen in the eastern Caribbean.

Torrential rains that have swept through Oklahoma and other parts of the Midwest and Texas have come at an “incredible cost to the oil and gas industry,” the chairman of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association (OIPA) said last week.

Hot weather forecasts were responsible for keeping prices on the rise at nearly all points Monday in the Midcontinent and West. But heavy rains and/or cold fronts trimmed back some of the cooling load that had started building late last week in the East’s northern market areas and already pervaded the South. The result was substantive price drops at virtually all non-Midcontinent points in the East.

The cash market was mixed Tuesday because of slightly weaker futures prices (October down 3.4 cents to $11.657) and continuing uncertainty over the status of Gulf production and the extent of the damage to Gulf infrastructure. Daily cash price changes were anywhere from down nearly $2 in the case of Florida Gas Transmission’s Zone 2 and 3 to up about 30 cents at a couple of Gulf Coast points.

Almost certainly in response to the imminence of Tropical Storm (potentially Hurricane) Katrina bringing cooling rains to the southern half of its Florida market area, Florida Gas Transmission ended Thursday an Overage Alert Day notice that had been initiated Aug. 10 and had tolerances for negative daily imbalances varying between 5% and 25% during its two-week run.

Although the prospect for new rains and a renewed snowpack are not that many weeks off, the Pacific Northwest last week continued to grapple with the second worst drought in the region’s history of water level recordings.

The moderately softening status quo remained in effect for the cash market Thursday. Declines of about a dime or less prevailed at most points, although double-digit moves were reported for the Rockies/Pacific Northwest region. The smallest drops of less than a nickel were concentrated at cool Northeast citygates.