Longer

Prices for natural gas, crude oil and electricity, which already are alarmingly high, are expected to continue their upward climb through the end of the year or longer, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook for July.

Longer term, analysts at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas predict “much higher natural gas prices,” despite a “sizable” inventory of undeveloped domestic resources.

Longer term, analysts at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas predict “much higher natural gas prices,” despite a “sizable” inventory of undeveloped domestic resources.

California’s wholesale electricity situation looks good for this summer’s peak-demand periods, but in the longer term the state’s aggressive push to get more renewable resource-based power continues to worry the head of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), Yakout Mansour. The CAISO CEO held a conference call with reporters last Monday to mark the release of the grid operator’s annual market performance report, a newly approved five-year strategy and CAISO’s 10th anniversary of operations.

New supplies soon to flow through Sempra Energy’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Mexico will not be a major factor longer term in the California energy market, said a NorthernStar Natural Gas executive overseeing the company’s proposed Clearwater Port LNG project off the coast of Oxnard, CA.

Despite Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction on Groundhog Day of a longer winter, the near-term outlook for natural gas is “very bearish,” and the second half of winter and the rest of 2008 “will be ugly for gas prices,” Raymond James & Associates Inc. said last week.

Despite Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction on Groundhog Day of a longer winter, the near-term outlook for natural gas is “very bearish,” Raymond James analysts said Monday. The second half of winter and the rest of 2008, they said, “will be ugly for gas prices.”

Move over, everyone; the line-up of pipelines seeking to take Rocky Mountain natural gas to the Northeast just go a bit longer. El Paso Corp.’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline and Equitable Resources Inc. Monday unveiled plans to build another pipeline project from the terminus of the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) in Ohio to Northeast gas markets.

While in the short-term North American natural gas markets may be weak, longer term they will strengthen and move back closer to oil prices as globalization of the commodity continues to unfold, according to Goldman Sachs & Co. economist David Greely. He added that down the road, the global trade and pricing of natural gas will be set by Russia with its 54 Bcf/d of gas production.