The precious metals slumped today, as the rise in the greenback made the dollar dominated commodities more expensive for holders of international currency, while the recent climb in equities continued to put the precious metals under pressure as their appeal as an alternate investment was dampened by the equities’ rise. In addition, tame inflation data [...]
Are Oil Majors Guilty of Price Manipulation?
May 15, 2013 By
On Tuesday, European regulators raided the offices of various oil majors, including BP and Shell, investigating whether accusations that they have colluded to rig oil prices since 2002. The European commission acknowledged that the unannounced inspections were to investigate claims that these oil majors may have “colluded in reporting distorted prices to a price reporting [...]
Oil Prices End Higher for Third Straight Session; OPEC Stays Put on Production
April 23, 2013 By
Oil rose for a third straight day Monday, with benchmark oil for May delivery adding 75 cents to finish at $88.76 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The May contract expired at the close of the trading session. The new front-month contract, June oil closed at $89.19 a barrel. Oil finished last week with a [...]
Natural Gas Closes at 21-Month High on Supply Data
April 19, 2013 By
Natural-gas futures added 4.4% in today’s session to close at $4.40 per million British thermal units; the highest close for a most-active contract since July 2011. Futures were boosted after the Energy Information Administration reported a 31 billion cubic foot increase in U.S. inventories for the week ended April 12. Analysts polled by Platts had [...]
Cold Weather Boosts Natural Gas Futures to 20-Month High
April 12, 2013 By
On a day where commodities prices were ungulfed in a sea of red, there was one “bright spot”, natural gas. Colder weather in the majority of the U.S. sent natural gas prices up today, with the Henry Hub May contract, the most actively traded, adding $0.092 to close at $4.231 per mmBtu on the Comex. [...]
Natural Gas at 20 Month Highs; Utilities Shift Consumption to Coal
April 12, 2013 By
(April 11th) Natural gas rose to a 20-month high today after a government report showed that U.S. stockpiles fell more than expected last week. According to the Energy Information Administration, natural gas supplies in the week ended April 5 dropped 14 billion cubic feet to 1.673 trillion, according to Bloomberg, analysts expected a drop of [...]
New Technologies Boost America’s Natural Gas Potential
April 10, 2013 By
According to industry group The Potential Gas Committee, America’s potential natural-gas resources are 2,384 trillion cubic feet, 26% higher than the group estimated back in 2010. The increase is driven by technological innovations such as hydraulic fracturing, but only assess the amount of gas that can be recovered with the technology, and does not address [...]
What’s Behind the Recent Volatility in Oil Prices?
March 27, 2013 By
Oil prices have seen a considerable swing over the past month with the price range from a low of $90.12 a barrel to a high of $96.36 a barrel. So what is behind the volatility? Oil is subject to considerable price swings because it is an economically sensitive commodity with a liquid market and has [...]
TOP 10 US Natural Gas Companies
March 7, 2013 By
The U.S. is going through a natural-gas boom that will only accelerate over the next three decades, according to the latest study on the industry. There are over 14,000 oil-and-gas companies, most of them small companies that are active in natural gas production and exploration, according to the EIA; however, the industry is still dominated [...]
Coal Prices: Historically Low and Ready for Rebound
March 7, 2013 By
Last year, an influx of U.S. natural gas supplies caused prices to slump to a ten year low, driving utilities to increase the amount of natural gas they use relative coal in their energy mix to generate power. What was good for the natural gas market was bad for the coal market. As coal fell out [...]