Winter

Finally, it was feeling more like spring than winter in nearly all market areas Wednesday, and the predictable market reaction was price declines ranging from barely lower to more than 60 cents, although the most common losses were between a dime and a quarter.

The winter of 2002/03 doesn’t seem to realize its time is up. Snow and ice storms scattered from the central Plains through the Midwest and Northeast resulted in gains ranging from about a nickel to 45 cents in non-Rockies/San Juan Basin markets Monday, although a couple of scattered points barely eked out any increase at all.

Coming off of a winter that was colder than normal in a number of regions, WSI Corp. said it expects that trend to continue from April-June in the central and southern Plains and the Southeast, while warmer-than-normal temperatures are expected from the Rockies westward, along with the northern Plains, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic, and the Northeast.

The weather continued to range Thursday from memories of winter in Canada and the northern third of the U.S. to hints of summer across the South and Southwest, with the territory in between serving as a buffer with varying but mostly spring-like conditions. The cash market tended to reflect such fundamentals, ranging within a dime up or down from flat in most cases, but with the positive moves outweighing the negative ones.

Coming off of a winter that was colder than normal in a number of regions, WSI Corp. said it expects that trend to continue from April-June in the central and southern Plains and the Southeast, while warmer-than-normal temperatures are expected from the Rockies westward, along with the northern Plains, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic, and the Northeast.

Soaring wholesale gas prices this winter have forced two Maryland retail gas marketers to cut services to some or all of their customers. The Maryland Office of Peoples Counsel (OPC) has issued a consumer alert regarding the gas suppliers, Maryland Natural Gas & Electric/Operators Energy Services and ACN Energy.

Weather normalized gas demand this winter has exceeded gas supply by about 750 MMcf/d on average, according to a Monthly Energy Outlook by Stephen Smith Energy Associates. This gas shortage means that gas prices will have to remain at “demand destruction” levels ($4-$7 at the Henry Hub) this summer in order for storage to be refilled to an adequate level by next fall, the consulting firm said.

In a switch from several long-running System Overrun Limitations implemented during this past cold winter, Northern Natural Gas said late Thursday afternoon it is issuing a System Underrun Limitation for all market areas (ABC, D and E/F), to become effective Saturday.

Weather normalized gas demand this winter has exceeded gas supply by about 750 MMcf/d on average, according to a Monthly Energy Outlook by Stephen Smith Energy Associates. This gas shortage means that gas prices will have to remain at “demand destruction” levels ($4-$7 at the Henry Hub) this summer in order for storage to be refilled to an adequate level by next fall, the consulting firm said.