By Brad Foss – Boost in Natural Gas Prices Coincide With Rise in Trading by Hedge Funds, Prompting Complaints If the law of supply and demand really drives commodity prices, then something seems amiss in the natural gas market. Natural gas futures are trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at prices roughly 50 percent […]
Archive | energy
Brazilians gain from surge of interest in ethanol
By Raymond Colitt – Growing global demand for cleaner vehicle fuels and the possibility of falling farm subsidies in Europe have sparked several investments in Brazil’s ethanol industry. Brazilian and foreign investors are set to invest as much as $3bn (€2.3bn, £1.6bn) over the next five years to increase ethanol production by 40 per cent, […]
SHORT TERM ENERGY OUTLOOK
By The Energy Information Administration – Higher OPEC oil output during the second quarter has so far failed to dampen upward price pressure as West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prices reached the mid $40’s per barrel level in early August. With rising consumption and little global surplus production capacity, near-term prices remain volatile and sensitive to […]
Crude Prices: “It’s Unreal!”
By Bill Cara – The head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, called OPEC, gave us the quote of the Day: “It’s Unreal!” We beg to differ. It is real, and if, as and when crude oil prices go higher, so too does our cost at the fuel pumps. Analysts widely believe that for […]
China’s energy appetite fuels record prices
By Kevin Morrison Nowhere is China’s dramatic effect on global commodity prices over the past two years more visible than on the oil price, which recently jumped to more than $40 a barrel, stirring concerns of higher inflation and lower world economic growth. Although India’s fast-growing economy has also boosted energy consumption, it is the […]
Ethanol achieves commodity status
Once considered an expensive, experimental additive to make gasoline burn cleaner and more efficiently, it has become a staple like soybeans, eggs and pork bellies. So much so, that the New York Board of Trade introduced a futures contract for sugar-derived ethanol Friday and will introduce an options contract today. The Chicago Board of Trade […]