Welcome to Our New Blog!

Posts Tagged ‘market update’

Summer Starts Off Hot in the East: High Temperatures Expected in Texas Next Week

Posted by

Summer 2012 officially began with a warm start at midnight on Wednesday, June 20with daytime temperatures in the Mid 90’s to +100 degrees farenheit in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest.  Meteorologists credit a high pressure system over the Great Plains that has allowed dry heat from the Southwest to move into the Midwest and extend into the East before a cold front moves in this weekend.  Next week will bring cooler temperatures to the East but Texas will see its first shot of upper 90’s to +100 degree weather and ERCOT is already predicting record June demand above…
Continue reading >>

Read More

Cheap Natural Gas Fueling An Industrial Renaissance

Posted by

North American energy producers have achieved notable success by unlocking and developing the technologies necessary to deliver vast amounts of cheap natural gas to the market.  As a result, the U.S. might be on the verge of an industrial renaissance that could provide the spark that will help the country regain its economic footing, and at the same time significantly alter the industrial landscape of the country for many years to come.

A recent surge in domestic natural gas supplies, due to the process known as “fracking,” has enabled gas production to reach levels not reached since 1988.  The location…
Continue reading >>

Read More

EPA Proposal & Standards Continue to Push the Power Industry Towards Natural Gas Plants

Posted by

The electric power industry typically relies on coal to generate half the power that is used in the U.S. every year. The burning of coal results in a host of pollutants including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury as well as greenhouse gasses, most notably carbon dioxide.

Over the years federal, state and local governments have passed numerous laws and regulations to restrict the emissions of these byproducts OF coal combustion. One of the more significant of these rules, the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) which is designed to mitigate sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, will be reviewed by the…
Continue reading >>

Read More

ERCOT’s Preliminary Summer Assessment

Posted by

ERCOT’s preliminary summer assessment was released on March 1 and it is predicting tight reserve margins this summer.  Reserve margins are the measure of available capacity over and above the capacity needed to meet normal peak demand levels.  They serve as insurance if there is a sudden loss of generation or an increase in energy demand.

ERCOT would like reserve margins to be at least 13.75%, but the forecast for this summer just dropped from 12.2% to 8.6% due to demand growth outpacing new generation and weather forecasts calling for above normal temperatures during July and August. This summer’s…
Continue reading >>

Read More

Snowpack’s Influence On Winter Heating Demand

Posted by

Both natural gas and power prices continue to experience considerable downward pressure due to the persistent above average temperatures present in the eastern two-thirds of the country.  Weather-related demand, which is typically measured in Heating Degree Days (HDD’s), has been significantly lower than normal this winter.  

This lack of demand has delayed the price support that we typically see at this point of the heating season.  The HDD’s from Nov. 1, 2011 to the current day are -13% lower than the same period last year and are -8% lower than the 30-year normal.  As a result, the prompt-month natural gas…
Continue reading >>

Read More

The Impact Of Dodd-Frank Financial Overhaul on Non-Financial Companies

Posted by

As a part of the financial overhaul last year, the Dodd-Frank bill was created to establish federal oversight of the $583 trillion derivatives market that contributed to the near-collapse of the financial system in 2008.  The bill was designed to rein-in banks from taking undue risk, by requiring these financial institutions to back up their derivatives trades with cash or other assets as collateral.  Their intent was to bring the derivatives market into the open and manage the risks to the broader economy.  At the time lawmakers claimed that this regulatory requirement would only be imposed on financial institutions and…
Continue reading >>

Read More
« Older Entries