Natural Gas
Natural gas has failed to breach the $3.70/MMBtu once again this week, however prices did not fall below $3.60/MMbtu. The low point in the market this week was $3.62/MMBtu slightly above last weeks low point. Prices have risen since then, all the way up to $3.69/MMBtu. Gas has seem to stabilized in this range for the past 3 weeks. Storage received an injection once again, however this time it was well below what was predicted. Analyst believed it to be somewhere in the upper 70’s Bcf but storage only increased by 58 Bcf. The East continues to receive the most of the injection. Storage is far below what we had last year at this time, 414 Bcf to be exact, however seeing injections this low is a positive sign. Storage is currently 101 Bcf below the 5 year average but is still within the 5 year historial range. With lower injections, natural gas could potentially see a rise in prices, causing it to exceed the $3.70 mark for the first time in July.
Crude Oil
Crude oil continues to rise with the combination of the declining stockpiles and the U.S. economy. This previous week, Bernanke offered good news for the Federal Reserve which has viewed well by the citizens. A direct result of fewer people claiming unemployment benefits is the rise of crude oil price. According to an article at Bloomberg.com oil prices will continue to climb due to the economy. Correl, who is a senior energy analyst out of Kentucky, believes the lower amount of jobless claims has made an impact on oil prices for the better. Oil prices are currently at $107.8/barrel and rising. This is the highest crude oil has been in the past 15 months. With more good news, the market could reach well above $110/barrel before the end of the month. The bullish market has been dominating it’s gas counter part the past couple of months.
Commercial Electricity
ERCOT: Prices ranging between .056 – .078 cents
MISO: Rates have been varying between .08 – .103 cents
PJM: Prices have been seen between .08 – .11 cents
NYISO: Rates have been seen between .09 – .132 cents
Weather
Weather for this week should remain much of the same. The South should experience cooler temperatures earlier in the week, followed by a slight increase in temperature for the remainder of the week. Expect temperatures to only increase a max of 2 degrees. The Northeast will experience the most change, with anywhere from a 6 – 10 degree increase in temperature. The West should also see a rise in temperature, however it will not be as drastic as the East. The West should see temperatures rise to 4 – 8 degrees above normal. The Midwest should stay relatively calm with an increase possible anywhere from 2 – 4 degrees. The U.S. has continued to heat up during this historically hot month. A/C’s should be in full effect, especially in the Northeast which is experiencing one of it’s hottest summer’s in a long time.
