Spurs

Demand drives prices up, which spurs investment, which creates more supply: barrels, Btus… and employees. The energy industry will find itself seriously short of a variety of skilled and professional employees for quite some time, but the supply response is ratcheting up in a number of ways.

Skyrocketing energy prices combined with the hurricane devastation in the Gulf of Mexico are just the spurs needed for the state of Ohio to take another look at the possibility of drilling for natural gas under Lake Erie and on state-owned lands as well, according to an Ohio legislator.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) revised its pre-Thanksgiving storage report last week from the unexpectedly large 49 Bcf withdrawal to 17 Bcf, but consumers will pay throughout the month of December for the futures price spike engendered by the erroneous report — up to a billion dollars by some accounts — and industrial, chemical and municipal customers are calling for changes in storage reporting.

Natural gas trade associations last week were divided over recommendations in a Senate Republican policy paper that call on Congress in the next session to terminate open-access requirements and introduce market pricing for natural gas pipelines and storage facilities, as well as reduce the regulatory confusion between states and the federal government and speed up capital cost recovery of energy investments.

Natural gas trade associations are divided over recommendations in a Senate Republican policy paper that call on Congress in the next session to terminate open-access requirements and introduce market pricing for natural gas pipelines and storage facilities, as well as reduce the regulatory confusion between states and the federal government and speed up capital cost recovery of energy investments.

Natural gas trade associations are divided over recommendations in a Senate Republican policy paper that call on Congress in the next session to terminate open-access requirements and introduce market pricing for natural gas pipelines and storage facilities, as well as reduce the regulatory confusion between states and the federal government and speed up capital cost recovery of energy investments.

Reports of rising power generation load for gas as spring temperatures continue to go up were spotty Tuesday, but there apparently was enough demand to prompt moderate spot price firmness in the face of major weakness in the energy futures complex the day before.

The cash market appeared to brush aside Monday’s second straight screen dive in registering gains Tuesday that were as low as a dime at a few western points, but most often ranged between a quarter and more than 60 cents.

A new cold front moving across the Midwest Friday promised to bring lower weekend temperatures to that region and to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast after crossing the Appalachians. Yet the demand-boosting forecast proved no match in counteracting the negative influences of further screen softness and the lingering effect of Thursday’s report of a 100 Bcf build in storage a week earlier.