Gas volumes among the top 20 North American marketers continued to show significant growth in the first quarter of the year with nearly a 40 Bcf/d rise in volumes compared to 1Q2000 and a 14.9 Bcf/d increase compared to 4Q2000 (see Table). The big volume gainers for the quarter (1Q2001 versus 1Q2000) were El Paso, Enron, BP, Mirant, Sempra and Reliant, while the only volume decreases in the top 20 were posted by Coral, Aquila and Williams.
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Northern CA Prices Soar; Rest of Market Flat to Softer
Except for still-exploding Northern California numbers, the cash market was mostly in standpat mode Thursday. Eastern prices tended to move little if at all, and there was generally moderate softness in the Southwest basins and Rockies.
Transportation Notes
With linepack threatening to soar well above its maximum targetlevels later this week, Pacific Gas & Electric widenedTuesday’s customer-specific OFO into a systemwide Stage 3high-inventory OFO today. The OFO has penalties of $5/Dth forpositive daily imbalances exceeding a stringent 1% tolerance.
California Prices Soar, But Most of Market Softer
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.
Southern California Prices Soar to $40
Spot price records could be tested again this week in SouthernCalifornia, where the market yesterday nearly mimicked what tookplace in early December when prices reached a new record at$58.76/MMBtu. SoCal started the day around $20 and then soaredabove $40 before coming back down to the low $30s. Strong heatingand power generation demand and stringent balancing requirements onSouthern California Gas’ system due to low storage levels, promptedthe market move.
SoCal Border Prices Soar; Rest of Market Slumps 40-50 Cents
While the rest of the country resumed the softening trendyesterday with price drops of 40-50 cents, California returned tothe stratosphere with increases from weekend levels approaching $5and averages hovering around $19-$20/MMBtu.
AEP’s Earnings Decline, Energy Sales Soar
American Electric Power released its 2000 earnings Tuesday,which were lower than last year’s due to extraordinary costsincluding the completion of its merger with Central and South WestCorp. The company posted net income after extraordinary costs of$596 million ($1.85 per share), a decline from 1999’s level of $972million ($3.03 per share).
Storage Issues, Weather, Screen Help Cash Soar
The cash market made another big surge Monday as traders debatedwhether storage worries or new weather forecasts carried the mostweight in the renewed bullishness. Gains tended to range from abouta quarter to more than a dollar in Transco’s Zone 6 pools in theNortheast. Some production area points were exceeding January indexlevels.
Northeast Joins CA/Pacific Northwest in 4-Digit Pricing
Prices continued to soar Tuesday but generally by smalleramounts than on Monday in the Gulf Coast, Midcontinent/Midwest,Appalachia and Southwest/Rockies. However, bigger gains at thefrigid Northeast citygates allowed them to join California and thePacific Northwest in measuring average pricing in four digits.
Cash Prices Soar Higher, Produce Huge Daily Ranges
Market observers watched in disbelief yesterday as prices atsome locations rocketed up more than $1 from Wednesday’s levels.Most cash points made daily gains of between 40 and 50 cents, anddaily price ranges were enormous.