Markets

Relatively low natural gas prices and regional environmental initiatives are leading natural gas-fired generators to provide a greater portion of the electricity in the northeastern United States, and the region’s two regional transmission organizations — the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO New England) and the New York Independent System Operator — have seen a dramatic shift away from petroleum- and coal-fired generation since 2001, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Physical natural gas for Wednesday delivery continued to advance in trading Tuesday, gaining approximately 12 cents on average nationally, with New England points the biggest winners, posting gains upwards of a dollar on some lightly traded pipes.

Next-day overall physical gas prices on average jumped approximately 29 cents in Monday’s trading. Back out the multi-dollar gains seen at some New England points hit by forecasts of cold weather and surging power demand and the figure settles in at a 15 cent advance.

Weekend and Monday deliveries of physical gas skidded 8 cents on average nationally in Friday trading with East and Northeast points the hardest hit and only a handful of points in positive territory.

In the soft drink world, Coke’s nemesis is Pepsi. But in the steel industry coke risks being undone by low-cost natural gas.

Physical natural gas for delivery Friday bounded higher by an average of 11 cents in Thursday’s trading.

Physical gas for Thursday delivery jumped on average 8 cents nationally in Wednesday’s trading, with only a handful of individual points in the loss column surrounded by widespread gains. A large cold front was dropping temperatures well below normal as it moved out of the Plains and Midwest into the Great Lakes and into Texas.

Commodity Futures Trading Commissioner (CFTC) Bart Chilton, a major proponent of speculative position limits, announced that Tuesday’s meeting will be his last at the agency.

Just days after withdrawing its appeal of a federal court decision that tossed a controversial final rule aimed at limiting speculative trading in the swaps markets, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Tuesday voted to propose new rules in place of the discarded position limits rule.