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Weekly Energy Perspective
March 8, 2010 | View PDF (176 KB) | PDF Archives
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Summary
Natural Gas:
The NYMEX prompt-month contract decreased $1.22 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last week to $4.59/MMBtu on Friday. The 12-month NYMEX strip price was down $0.22/MMBtu to $5.18/MMBtu. Last week, the Henry Hub cash price decreased $0.20/MMBtu to $4.56/MMBtu.
According to the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) latest monthly natural gas report, U.S. total gas consumption of natural gas increased 3.6 percent to 80 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd) in December from the previous year’s December total of 77.2 Bcfd. December 2009 industrial demand also increased by 7.4 percent to 19.1 Bcfd from the previous December’s total of 17.8 Bcfd. The EIA also reported an increase of total U.S. marketed natural gas production of 1.5 percent (0.9 Bcfd) to 60.3 Bcfd from the previous December’s level of 59.4 Bcfd.
Storage:
The EIA storage inventory for the week ending Feb. 26 dropped by 116 billion cubic feet (Bcf) to 2.025 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). The draw was below expectations of 130 Bcf drop. The storage level is 21 Bcf above the five-year average and 71 Bcf less than the same period in 2009.
Weather:
The Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions should have colder to much-colder-than-normal temperatures while the Upper Midwest, Northeast and West of the Rockies regions should have warmer-than-normal temperatures in the six- to 10-day period. During the eight- to 14-day time period most of the country east of the Rockies is forecasted to have colder-than-normal temperatures while the Pacific Northwest and Upper Midwest will have warmer-than-normal temperatures. The rest of the country will have normal temperatures.
Imports:
Send-out volumes last week from liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals totaled about 1.59 Bcfd, which was 0.5 Bcfd more than a year ago. Canadian imports were 7.3 Bcfd, which was 0.7 Bcfd less than a year ago.
Exploration and production:
The total U.S. oil and gas rig count increased by 23 last week to 1,396 rigs. The gas rig count increased by 21 and stands at 926. The Canadian rig count decreased by 33 to 543.
Electricity:
Electricity generation for the week ending Feb. 27 was 3.9 percent less than the prior week and 4.2 percent more than a year ago. Year-to-date electricity usage is 4.2 percent higher than last year.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has forecasted lower hydroelectric generation for the Pacific Northwest region this spring due to drought which could lead to higher natural gas-fired generation demand.
Petroleum:
The NYMEX West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prompt-month contract settled at $81.50 per barrel (Bbl) on Friday, up $1.84/Bbl for the week. Brent crude settled at 79.89/Bbl on Friday, up $2.30/Bbl for the week. U.S. retail gasoline prices were up $0.043 last week at $2.747 per gallon.
For the week ending Feb. 26, crude oil inventories increased by 4 million barrels (MMBbls), distillate inventories decreased by 0.84 MMBbls, and gasoline inventories increased by 0.77 MMBbls. The increase in crude oil inventories was larger than expected. U.S. refinery utilization increased 0.67 percent to 81.9 percent.
Compared to last year, the EIA estimates that the four-week rolling average U.S. gasoline demand was up 0.1 percent from last year. Distillate fuel demand was down 4.8 percent and jet fuel demand was down 3.8 percent. Total products supplied to the U.S. market were up by 3 percent compared to last year.
Oil shipments from OPEC are expected to fall by 500,000 barrels per day (Bpd) in the four weeks to March 20, according to tanker tracker Oil Movements. Crude oil exports from OPEC are forecast to fall to 22.87 million barrels per day (MMBpd) in the four weeks to March 20, down from 23.42 MMBpd in the prior four week period to Feb. 20. Crude oil exports normally fall during the spring as refiners start their annual maintenance period.
Chile may increase its demand for diesel imports following the earthquake. Chilean state-run oil company Empresa Nacional del Petroleo, or Enap's, largest refinery (capacity 116,000 Bpd) could be off-line for at least a month due to structural damage from the earthquake.
Tanker owners have been warned of impending terrorist attacks in the Malacca and Singapore Straits. The Malacca Strait is the second-largest business shipping lane for oil shipments between the Persian Gulf and Asian Pacific markets with 15 MMBpd moving through the straits.
Economy:
The U.S. unemployment rate stayed steady at 9.7 percent in February. The Labor Department reported that 36,000 jobs were cut in February below analysts’ expectations of 50,000 cuts.
U.S. factory orders posted the biggest increase in January due to a 118.6 percent increase in commercial aircraft orders.
| 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 |