OREANDA-NEWS. December 16, 2016. Natural gas sendout into US interstate pipelines today from North American east coast LNG import terminals is scheduled to be the highest since 14 February amid higher gas prices driven by cold-weather demand.

Total flow from those facilities into the interstate grid today is scheduled to reach about 1.4 Bcf (40mn cf), compared with about 2.2 Bcf on 14 February.

Most of the supply will go to the US northeast, which can consume notable volumes of regasified LNG during peak winter demand days because of regional pipeline constraints. LNG import facilities along the US Gulf coast have been virtually inactive since the domestic shale gas boom.

Prices for delivery today at some major eastern markets reached the highest levels in more than a year, after a relatively mild 2015-16 winter. Algonquin Citygates, which serves New England, climbed to \\$12.85/mmBtu, the highest since the \\$13.96/mmBtu seen for delivery on 5 March 2015.

The temperature in Boston overnight dropped to 6°F (-14°C), near the record of 1°F set in 1883, according to AccuWeather. Temperatures are expected to rise this weekend.

About 45pc of today's send-out, or 627mn cf, is scheduled to be delivered to the US northeast from the Canaport LNG terminal in eastern Canada. It would be the highest flow from the 1.2-Bcf/d facility to the US since it delivered 709mn cf on 14 February. Canaport, located in St John, New Brunswick, connects with the Maritimes & Northeast pipeline along the US-Canada border. Maritimes & Northeast extends to Massachusetts, where it connects with the Algonquin Gas Transmission interstate system.

The Everett LNG terminal outside Boston, Massachusetts, is scheduled to deliver today a combined 185mn cf into the Algonquin and Tennessee Gas pipeline (TGP) systems, with 57mn to go to Algonquin and 128mn to TGP. It would be highest combined daily flow from Everett to those two systems since 324mn cf on 14 February. Everett sends most of its gas to the nearby Mystic gas-fired power plant via an intrastate pipeline, but those volumes are not reported to regulators.

Excelerate Energy on 14 February also delivered 226mn cf into Algonquin from its offshore buoy, but it has not docked a storage and regasification vessel there so far this winter heating season.

Import terminals serving mid-Atlantic and southeast markets also are scheduled to send relatively high volumes to interstate pipelines today as the cold snap extended into those regions.

The Elba Island terminal near Savannah, Georgia, is scheduled to flow about 484mn cf, the highest level since 519mn cf 15 February 2015. The Cove Point facility in Maryland is scheduled to send 107mn cf into the regional grid, its highest amount since 110mn cf on 3 March.

Elba Island and Cove Point can send gas into the Transcontinental (Transco) gas pipeline and other interstate systems. Prices for delivery today at Transco zone 5 reached \\$7.65/mmBtu, the highest since \\$13.00/mmBtu on 5 March 2015.