Despite the forecast for temperatures to return to normal for this time of year next week, these are certainly historic times.
A lot of people have been asking this week if this weather has caused industry conditions to be worse than the 2014 “polar vortex.” Yesterday was certainly historic on the natural gas side. Transco Zone 6 NY, a large natural gas cash market, traded at $175/dekatherm. This cash market exceeded its previous high of $125/dekatherm which was traded in January 2014, during the infamous “polar vortex.” Dual-powered power plants that normally operate on natural gas have been switching over to diesel because immediate natural gas supply is so tight. Utilities are commanding all transport truck capacity in order to bring diesel loads so they can operate because they are able to sell at extremely high prices. This has turned the petroleum hauling industry upside down and is putting some haulers four days behind on deliveries. Therefore, we are asking our delivered-in customers to schedule loads ahead of time with us for all of next week so we can best accommodate your fuel needs.
Please contact your sales representative here as soon as possible to schedule these loads because, yes, in many respects, this is worse than the “polar vortex.”
February WTI currently trades lower by $0.56 to $61.45/bbl, ULSD is lower by $0.013 to $2.064/gallon, and gasoline is down by $0.0168 to $1.7899/gallon.
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