Canadian natural gas fell as mild weather in the U.S., where most of the nation’s gas output is consumed, pares demand for heating fuels.
Alberta gas dropped 1.8 percent as Weather Derivatives of Belton,
Missouri, said heating demand across the U.S., where most of Canada’s output is consumed, will trail normal by 20 percent through Dec. 26. New York’s high will touch 53 degrees Fahrenheit (12 Celsius) Dec. 21, 12 degrees higher than normal, according to AccuWeather Inc.
“It’s balmy across the country and the forecasts are warm all the way to January,” said
Kyle Cooper, director of research at IAF Advisors in Houston.
Alberta gas for January delivery slipped 5.25 cents to C$2.8325 a gigajoule ($2.58 per million British thermal units) as of 11 a.m. New York time, according to
NGX, a Canadian Internet market.
Gas traded on the exchange is shipped to users in
Canada and the U.S. and priced on TransCanada Corp.’s Alberta system. NGX Alberta gas has fallen 23 percent this year.
Gas for January delivery fell 5.7 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $3.07 per million Btu at 11:06 a.m. on the
New York Mercantile Exchange. The futures are down 30 percent this year.
Volume on TransCanada’s Alberta system, which collects the output of most of the nation’s gas wells, was 17.3 billion cubic feet, 450 million above its target.
Empress, McNeil
Gas was flowing at a daily rate of 2.49 billion cubic feet at Empress, Alberta, where the fuel is transferred to TransCanada’s main line.
At McNeil, Saskatchewan, where gas is transferred to the Northern Border Pipeline for shipment to the Chicago area, the daily flow rate was 2.1 billion cubic feet.
Available capacity on TransCanada’s British Columbia system at Kingsgate was 688 million cubic feet. The system was forecast to carry 1.97 billion cubic feet today, about 74 percent of its capacity of 2.65 billion.
The volume on
Spectra Energy’s British Columbia system, which gathers the fuel in northeastern British Columbia for delivery to Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest, totaled 2.94 billion cubic feet at 9:50 a.m.