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Weekly Energy Perspective
June 29, 2009 | View PDF (127 KB) | PDF Archives
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Summary
Natural Gas:
The NYMEX prompt-month contract increased $0.07 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) to $4.10/MMBtu last. The 12-month NYMEX strip price was down $.12/MMBtu at $5.36/MMBtu. Last week, the Henry Hub cash price decreased $0.23/MMBtu to $3.81/MMBtu.
Storage:
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage inventory for the week ending June 19 rose by 94 billion cubic feet (Bcf) to 2.651 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). The build was slightly below the expected range of 98 to 101 Bcf. The storage level is 482 Bcf above the five-year average and 631 Bcf more than the same period in 2008.
Weather:
The National Weather Service forecasts that the northern two-thirds of the U.S. will be cooler than normal and the South will be warmer than normal for the six- to 10-day forecast. The Northeast and West regions will be normal to cooler than normal while the South and Midwest will be warmer than normal during theeight- to 14-day time frame.
Imports:
Send-out volumes last week from liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals totaled about 1.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd), which was 0.2 Bcfd more than the same time a year ago. Canadian imports last week were 6.5 Bcfd, which was 0.9 Bcfd less than last year.
Exploration and production:
The total U.S. oil and gas rig count increased by 18 last week to 917 rigs. The number of gas rigs dropped by five to 687. The Canadian rig count increased by five to 148 rigs.
Electricity:
Electricity generation for the week ending June 20 was 6.3 percent higher than the prior week and 3.5 percent lower than a year ago. Year-to-date electricity usage is 4.3 percent lower than last year.
Power demand in Texas set a new record for June for the fourth straight day on Thursday, said grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas, with prices above $200 per megawatt hour in parts of Texas.
Petroleum:
The NYMEX West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prompt-month contract settled at $69.16 per barrel (Bbl) on Friday, up $0.11/Bbl for the week. The spread between the prompt-month contract and the 12th-month contract narrowed during the week from $6.45/Bbl to $5.25/Bbl on Friday. Brent crude settled at $68.92/Bbl at the end of last week. U.S. retail gasoline prices fell a total of $0.03 last week to $2.66 per gallon after rising for 54 consecutive days. The American Automobile Association expects 2.6 percent less car trips during this July 4th weekend than 2008.
For the week ending June 19, crude oil inventories decreased by 3.8 million barrels (MMBbls), distillate inventories increased by 2.1 MMBbls, and gasoline inventories increased by 3.9 MMBbls. The large decrease in crude oil and large build in gasoline and distillate inventories was unexpected. Storage levels at Cushing fell by 733,000 Bbls to 28.238 MMBbls last week. U.S. refinery utilization rose 1.2 percent to 87.1 percent.
Compared to last year, the EIA estimates that the four-week rolling average U.S. gasoline demand was up 0.4 percent, distillate fuel demand was down 9.3 percent and jet fuel demand was down 13.9 percent. Total products supplied to the U.S. market were down by 6.6 percent.
Another round of attacks in Nigeria on oil pipelines and terminals reduced overall oil production levels to 1.3 million barrels per day (MMBpd), down from 1.8 MMBpd in the first quarter 2009.
Tanker tracker Oil Movements forecasted that OPEC exports (excluding Angola and Ecuador) will fall by 290,000 Bpd in the four weeks to July 11, 2009. Shipments are projected to reach 22.66 MMBpd.
According to Reuters, oil traders have sold 30 MMBbls of crude from floating supertankers to date while another 70 MMBbls is still stored on tankers used for storage. Traders plan to sell another 15 percent or 10 MMBbls of floating oil supply in July as the contango spread continues to narrow making crude oil held in storage a less profitable trade.
The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved legislation that would place the first national limits on emissions of greenhouse gases from major sources such as power plants, factories and oil refineries and boost the use of renewable energy. The bill would require the United States to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 and by 83 percent by 2050. The Senate will consider the legislation in the fall.
Economy:
The Commerce Department revised its gross domestic product first quarter number from 5.7 percent to 5.5 percent. U.S. durable goods orders rose 1.8 percent in May over April. U.S. consumer spending in May rose for the first time in three months by 0.3 percent over April while wages and salaries dropped 0.1 percent. The savings rate rose 6.9 percent, the highest level since December 1993.
U.S. new home sales fell 0.6 percent in May. However existing home sales rose 2.4 percent in May as the average sales price of existing homes dropped 17 percent to a median price of $173,000 down from $207,000 one year ago. Housing starts increased 17 percent in May.
The World Bank announced that it forecasted that the global economy will contract 2.9 percent in 2009, down from the 1.7 percent forecast in March.
| Apache's Weekly Energy Perspective is a weekly publication of summaries and statistics at a glance designed to keep you updated on the latest industry events. |
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Editor: Britt Dearman Contributor: Michele Markey |