Record cold weather pummeled energy infrastructure across the U.S., prompting gas pipeline operators to reduce flows, fuel terminals to shut loading racks and refineries to scale back production. The cold snap pushed oil prices higher for a second straight day and boosted natural gas on the spot market yesterday to a 17-month high. Temperatures in several cities across the eastern half of the U.S. dropped to record lows, with New York’s Central Park hitting 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 16 Celsius) yesterday, breaking a mark for the date set in 1896, according to AccuWeather Inc. in State College , Pennsylvania. Flows on all natural gas pipelines into New England from further west and south were constrained yesterday, as were flows into New York, the Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department’s statistical arm, said in a report . “The very cold temperatures widespread from Chicago east are […]