Tuesday

Affiliated pipelines Texas Eastern and Algonquin notified shippersTuesday evening that OFOs (or a Critical System Warning in Algonquin’scase) similar to those canceled Monday (see Daily GPI, Jan. 25) would go into effect later thatnight. As before, the OFOs require uniform hourly deliveries in themarket area and carry other restrictions such as no acceptance ofdue-shipper imbalance nominations. Effective today Algonquin isallowing only Primary Firm services through its Cromwell (CT)Compressor Station.

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but Thursday’s marketcontinued the pattern set Tuesday and Wednesday: ever-higher pricepeaks in the frigid Northeast (the top quote was $19 at TranscoZone 6-NYC) and considerably smaller but still strong increaseselsewhere.

Natural gas futures resumed trading Tuesday right where theyleft off last week as traders pressured the market higher in twodistinct buying surges. The first one came at 10:00 a.m. (EST),when February opened a penny above last Friday’s $2.35 high onreports of the coldest air of the season for the Northeast U.S. Thesecond wave of buying came near the close, in a local-led attemptto push the spot month above its 40-day moving average at $2.385.In the end that push was only half-successful; February was able topunch through its 40-day average, but was unable to settle aboveit. The contract closed up 6.1 cents at $2.383 amid light volume ofjust 43,581.

Sonat is canceling today an OFO Type 3 that was implemented Tuesdayfor seven market-area groups (see Daily GPI, Dec. 28). The pipeline also said it hadresolved mechanical problems at the Bear Creek (LA) Storage Field.

Fresh off a two-day, 24-cent price drop, natural gas futurestraded unchanged for most of the session Tuesday with light buyingand selling by trade accounts matching up nearly perfectly. Bymid-afternoon, however, it looked as if bears would make it atrifecta, as they successfully etched new lows for the Januarycontract down to $2.21. But after remaining on the sidelines formost of the day, speculators were seen as aggressive buyers intothe final bell. That enabled the January contract to finish on apositive note, up 4.7-cents to $2.271.

Northwest lifted Tuesday an entitlement for undertakes north ofKemmerer (WY) Station that had begun a week earlier (see Daily GPI, Nov. 10). Although linepack has returned toan acceptable level, the pipeline said, Jackson Prairie storage”remains virtually full with approximately 300,000 [dekatherms] ofavailable physical capacity.” Northwest is not authorizing anyimbalance paybacks until further notice.

Once again the bulls were on a rampage Tuesday, and sourcesexpected them to still be running today. Increases of about a dimeor more at all points dominated the cash market for the secondstraight day. Prices got support from a cold snap in thenortheastern U.S. and eastern Canada, hot weather from Californiathrough the Southwest into Texas and Louisiana and parts of theMidcontinent, and continued screen strength—both in natural gasand crude oil futures. Gas gained just over a dime, and crude rosejust over a dollar to finish above $22/bbl.

Both Florida Gas Transmission and Pacific Gas & Electricextended low-linepack OFOs (see Daily GPI, Oct. 5)-FGT through Tuesday and PG&Ethrough today. Neither changed the OFO conditions. PG&E posts OFOsa day in advance, while FGT usually re-evaluates system conditionseach morning before deciding whether to declare one for that gas day.

After warning of its possibility Tuesday, Florida GasTransmission issued an Overage Alert Day notice Wednesday for themarket area east of Station 12 (Santa Rosa County in the FloridaPanhandle). The notice carries a 6% tolerance for daily negativeimbalances. FGT will re-evaluate conditions this morning beforedeciding whether to extend the notice.