Remaining

With a severe ice storm continuing to wreak havoc on power systems in the central U.S. and frigid temperatures remaining in the Wednesday forecast in Canada and from the Rockies and Midcontinent through the Midwest and Northeast, prices continued to rise at a large majority of points Tuesday.

With snowstorms remaining in the regional forecast and highs in the 20s due Tuesday in New England and much of New York state, most Northeast citygates skyrocketed by multi-dollar amounts Monday to as high as $22.75 in Transco Zone 6’s New York City pool. However, such super-strength was not matched anywhere else even though the Midwest also faces highs in the 20s or less Tuesday. A few small gains outside the Northeast were heavily outweighed by declines.

The remaining three months of the hurricane season will bring above-average storm activity, according to weather forecasters at Colorado State University (CSU).

The remaining three months of the hurricane season will bring above-average storm activity, according to weather forecasters at Colorado State University (CSU).

FERC Wednesday approved Central New York Oil and Gas Co. LLC’s (CNYOG) request to place in service “on or before” Sept. 1 three of the four remaining storage wells and associated gathering facilities in Pennsylvania that were authorized as part of the Phase II expansion of the company’s Stagecoach Storage facility in southwestern New York State.

With Hurricane Dean continuing to recede as a potential threat to U.S. offshore production, cooling load remaining sparse outside the South and Southwest and a near-dollar plunge by September futures the day before serving as highly negative guidance, the cash market continued to fall by mostly large amounts at all points Tuesday.

Shares of Houston-based Spectra Energy hit a new low in intra-day trading Monday after the company reported a 39% drop in second quarter earnings. Shares in Spectra hit their lowest level since the company was created through the spin-off of Duke Energy’s natural gas business (see Daily GPI, Jan. 3).

With cooling load remaining unseasonably light in most of the East and Thursday’s 13.6-cent futures slide providing negative guidance, prices dropped in most of the cash market Friday. Although far short of a heat wave, forecasts of weekend highs in the low 90s along with high humidity in the lower Northeast proved sufficient to generate moderate gains at regional citygates.

Lehman Brothers will acquire the remaining two-thirds of Houston-based energy marketing and services company Eagle Energy Partners that it does not already own, the firm said last week. The transaction will expand Lehman’s energy trading business, particularly on the physical side, where it has had a relatively small presence.