(Bloomberg) – The Arctic freeze hitting the central US is set to increase, putting further pressure on energy prices, which traded at unprecedented levels during the long holiday weekend.
Natural gas reached a record $ 600 per million British thermal units in Oklahoma. According to traders who asked not to be identified, temperatures rose so far below forecast in parts of the central and western U.S. that physical gas prices rose from California to the Rockies, with one pivot in Cheyenne, Wyoming. because the information is not public.
Heating and power fuels traded as much as $ 195 per mmBtu in Southern California. If a daily price for electricity is an indication and the weather forecasts are even partially accurate, the rise in energy prices is not over yet.
“It’s a pretty cruel air mass,” said Bob Oravec, senior forecaster at the U.S. Weather Forecast Center. ‘The cold air is hedged through the middle part of the country. The high temperatures are incredibly cold, about 50 degrees below average. ”
According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, 797 daily records have been set for cold temperatures. The coldest place in the US was early Sunday 25 km east of Ely, Minnesota, where readings dropped to -50 degrees Fahrenheit. (-46 Celsius). According to New York time at 7 p.m., 2,653 flights through the U.S. were canceled through Monday. According to FlightAware, an airline tracking service, the majority are in Dallas and Houston.
Big increase
Wholesale power for Sunday delivery was in some places between $ 3,000 and $ 7,000 per megawatt hour, tripling the records set on Saturday, and a staggering 2,672% increase from Friday in west downtown Texas.
Traders said Saturday that they have never traded electricity for thousands of dollars on Texas’ network for such a long time. They showed comparisons between the price increases this week with the records set in the Midwest network in 1998, and with the California energy crisis that skyrocketed power prices and eclipsed hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses two decades ago.
Temperatures that are so low and high heating demand could test Texas’ electricity price limit on Sunday.
Among the other markets moving in the cold:
The dealers said gas in Chicago fetched $ 220 per mmBtu. Physical gas fetched as much as $ 300 per mmBtu in a Texas center. Oklahoma gas prices fluctuated between $ 50 and the highest of $ 600. Fuel prices in the eastern US have remained subdued amid lighter temperatures, calculated between $ 4 and $ 12 per mmBtu on Friday, according to price data compiled by Bloomberg.
Gas processing plants in Texas are closing while liquids in pipes are freezing, disrupting production just as demand jumps. And oil production in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. shale game, is moderating, while wells are slowing down or stopping altogether.
Texas’ leading energy regulator has taken emergency measures to ensure that households, hospitals, utilities and other “customers for human needs” get priority over gas for furnaces. The staff of the Texas Railroad Commission has warned that there will be a serious impact on the supply of energy resources in the coming days.
According to PowerOutage.us, 668,261 customers in six states were left without power on Saturday. Oregon and Virginia were hit the hardest with more than 200,000 customers in the dark.
Mexico to Canada
About 10 inches of snow could fall in Fort Worth, Texas, over the weekend, with temperatures likely to drop to single-digit Fahrenheit on Sunday and Monday. Houston is likely to get a layer of ice and less than an inch of rain.
Freezing rain has already created treacherous driving conditions there, with a 130-vehicle stacker in Forth Worth on Thursday injuring six dead and dozens. Winter storm warnings, watches and advice stretch from Brownsville, Texas, on the border with Mexico to the border with Maine. with Canada. Mexico has snow warnings for northeastern parts of the country, and Canada has the same for its maritime provinces. The worst anger in the winter will miss the biggest cities along the East Coast, as the storm’s trail will be too far to the west, Oravec at the Weather Forecast Center said. There may be snow showers and ice in New York and Boston, but most of the congestion will take place Monday through Tuesday in New York State and inland New England. “The largest metropolitan areas on the East Coast are missing the worst aspects of this winter weather,” said Oravec.
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