Cold weather this week has boosted demand for heating fuels across the country. Natural gas prices are up, especially in the Northeast. At one point prices for natural gas into New York City jumped nearly tenfold from an average winter price of $5.68 per million BTU to $55.49, according to Bentek Energy, an analytics company.
Part of the problem is getting the gas from where it's produced — these days, in places like Western Pennsylvania — to the population centers where it's burned. Sometimes there just aren't enough pipelines to meet the demand.