US Northeast spot natural gas prices continue to trade at parity or a premium to New York Harbor fuel oil prices as cold weather blankets the region.
Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line zone-6 New York spot gas was trading around $18.69/MMBtu on IntercontinentalExchange Thursday, while Algonquin city-gates, a proxy for New England, was trading around $31.34/MMBtu.
Platts assessed New York Harbor LSFO at $16.65/MMBtu-equivalent Wednesday, 0.3%S high pour fuel oil at $19.35/MMBtue and 0.3%S low pour fuel oil at $20.08/MMBtue.
Owners of dual-fuel power-generation facilities that can switch between natural gas and oil frequently have been using the latter because it has been easier to procure at times, its prices have been stable and it has often been less expensive this winter.
ISO New England, grid operator for much of the Northeast, released data Wednesday that showed generation from oil-fired units has averaged 9.893 GWh/day in 2014 through February 23, or about 3% of total generation, compared with about 3.022 GWh/day, or 0.94%, during the same 54-day period last year. (The data for oil-fired generation only considers power plants that burn exclusively petroleum products. Dual-fuel units that can burn natural gas or oil products are included in the natural gas category, even if a facility might have burned oil on a particular day.)
The US National Weather Service on Thursday projected Northeast temperatures to range from the single digits to mid-30s over the next several days, with some snow.
"With just two days left to go before meteorological spring begins, much of the eastern US is steeped in cold, winter-like air, thanks to an arctic air mass that continues to bring temperatures that are well below normal to areas from the northern Plains to New England," the NWS said Thursday.
