Natural Gas Prices may surge on January 2

[dan_s]

We have already seen spot prices for natural gas skyrocket. I expect the NYMEX futures market to surge forward this week because (a) there are serious shortages in the Northeast already and (b) the cold forecast has been extended into mid-January.

This stuff will draw a lot of attention on Wall Street, especially when a Major Winter Storm hits the Big Apple on Thursday.

Citing emergency, National Fuel asks customers to turn down the heat By Mark Sommer | Published 12:45 p.m. January 1, 2018

National Fuel is urging customers in Erie, Niagara and three other Western New York counties to turn back their thermostats by 5 degrees until further notice.

The utility said Monday that emergency procedures are necessary due to a system interruption at a transmission facility, reducing the amount of natural gas that can be delivered to homes in the short term. The transmission facility, in Potter County, Pa., allows natural gas to be transported through the company's interstate pipeline system.

The request also applies to customers in Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties.

"We believe that this system interruption will be short-lived and that with our customers' full cooperation, we will be able to limit this call for reduced usage," Carl M. Carlotti, president of National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp., said in a statement.

"We are continually monitoring the situation and will provide notice when the system is fully operational. System repairs are occurring now to bring it back to full operating potential."

Company spokeswoman Karen Merkel said the hope was that the problem could be taken care of in the next 12 to 24 hours, but there were no guarantees.

The company said the reduced level of usage should allow gas supplies to continue at a reduced level without additional interruption or inconvenience.

Customers with programmable thermostats are being asked to adjust the thermostat program to a lower setting. Customers who are elderly or ill should maintain a temperature in their homes that offers them comfort and will not impact any existing medical conditions, the company said.

National Fuel is also asking small, non-residential customers who use natural gas for purposes other than space heating to reduce their natural gas consumption by a minimum of 25 percent.
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Some small towns in Canada are at High Risk of being cut off from natural gas supplies.
Propane demand is going through the roof as temperatures in Iowa and Missouri are more than 40F below normal and expected to stay low all week. Lots of rural area use propane for space heating and cooking.

Thanks to Global Warming BS propane supplies have not grown with the population as they should. When you sit freezing in your cabin, send a thank you note to Al Gore.

[dan_s]

Northern Alberta running short on natural gas, due to extreme cold

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... -1.4468224

Northern Alberta county under state of emergency due to natural gas disruption: 'If you do not have alternate sources of heat, we encourage you to stay with friends or family'

By Todd Coyne, CBC News Posted: Dec 29, 2017 6:25 PM MT

A large swath of northern Alberta was under a state of emergency Friday night due to low natural gas pressure and system outages.

Mackenzie County, which borders British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and Wood Buffalo National Park, declared the emergency at 4:30 p.m. Friday, citing "extremely low natural gas pressures through the region," the county said.

The state of emergency remains in effect Saturday morning.

"The problem is expected to persist until the temperature rises," Alberta Emergency Alert said in a statement Friday evening.

Mackenzie County is Alberta's largest county by area.

"At this point we are asking that all natural gas users within the region limit their usage as low as possible," Mackenzie County said. "This will help gas reach the end of the line and prevent additional houses from freezing."

Local natural gas provider Northern Lights Gas Co-op said in a statement Friday its system was experiencing low pipeline pressure and asked residents to keep natural gas use to an absolute minimum.

'This is not a permanent solution'

Just before 6 p.m., the county issued an update saying natural gas trucks have been feeding into the local gas pipeline system but are still "struggling to keep up with the fuel demand of our region, leaving some residences without any natural gas."

Another gas truck, along with two compressors are due to arrive in the region around midnight, with an additional "support compressor" due to arrive from outside the province, the county said.

"Although we are hoping this will stabilize the situation, this is not a permanent solution."

La Crête is approximately 685 kilometres north of Edmonton.

Residents are encouraged to call the county's Emergency Services Hotline at 780-927-3718 with questions about the natural gas situation.
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There is lots of wood to burn in Northern Alberta but cutting wood in -40F temperatures is life-threating.