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Prediction: CFTC Will Limit Oil Speculation, and Heating Oil Prices Will Stabilize
By Josh Garrett, editor of The HEAT Zone
The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that, as part of its review of oil price volatility in recent months, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission will release a report next month that identifies speculation as the main cause of last year’s spike in oil prices.
With the CFTC hearings [...]
US and China to Collaborate on Green Energy Research and Develoment
This morning, the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters, the United States and China, announced plans for a joint Clean Energy Research Center, according to the AP. Operations are set to begin by the end of 2009.
The US Department of Energy says the Center “would facilitate joint research and development on clean energy by teams [...]
Climate Change Coalition Waffles on Support for Emissions Bill
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that climate change legislation now working its way through Congress in the form of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) is encountering increased resistance from industry as changes are made to the bill. Some of the objections are coming from prominent members of The U.S. Climate [...]
Read More »Oil Prices Bounce Back on Gasoline Stockpile Drop
At 9:26 am EDT, the price of crude had risen by 1.9 percent to reach $60.65 a barrel and the price of heating oil had gained 2.3 percent.
HEAT USA Price Report
Today’s average retail heating oil price per gallon: UP $0.01
Morning projection (for Thursday’s price per gallon): UP $0.03
Oil prices rose moderately this morning, boosted by [...]
Obama Gives Nod to Importance of Ghana’s Oil Reserves in Speech
Last week, President Barack Obama delivered a well-received speech in Accra, the capital of Ghana. In his remarks, Obama discussed many issues, ranging from the importance of democracy to the tragedy of the continent’s HIV/AIDS crisis, the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reported on Sunday.
Obama’s speech totaled close to 4,000 words. But it’s one [...]
Amid Talk of Stricter Regulation of Oil Trades, Some Commodities Experts Defend Role of Speculators
Following the Commodities Futures Trading Commission’s announcement that it intends to tighten regulations on oil speculation, the effect of speculators on oil prices is a hot a news topic as ever.
Many have called speculators the cause of the extreme volatility of oil prices. Opponents of commodities regulation say this isn’t so, and argue that regulation [...]
Oil Traders Using UK-Based ICE to Duck US Regulations
As reported here on The HEAT Zone, Commodities Futures Trading Commission chairman Gary Gensler recently announced his agency will hold hearings to discuss potential new rules to curb rampant oil speculation. Any new regulations will affect commodities trading, but it’s unclear exactly how.
Some are guessing speculators will flee the market and will look elsewhere to [...]
Inadequate Electrical Grid Forces Pickens to Indefinitely Delay Massive Wind Project
Forbes reported last Wednesday that Texas oilman, T. Boone Pickens, has announced that he will delay, or perhaps cancel, plans for a giant wind energy project in the Texas panhandle.
Pickens’ project was supposed to be the largest wind power field in the world at a rated generating capacity of 1,000 megawatts per hour — about [...]
Nuclear Power Part of Dr. Chu’s Green Energy Prescription
Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu was one of four ranking Obama Administration officials who recently told the Senate that the United States needs more nuclear power. Together with the secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior, plus the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Chu told the Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works that [...]
Read More »Oil Prices Give Back Early Gains to Close Flat
The price of crude rose by 0.3 percent to $60.32 a barrel (just an 18-cent increase) and the price of heating oil fell by 0.4 percent.
HEAT USA Price Report
Evening projection (for Friday’s average retail heating oil price per gallon): NO CHANGE
After a weak dollar and rising stock markets stimulated gains in oil prices this [...]
Under Pending Climate Bill, Handful of States Could be Biggest Winners
As the debate over the pending climate and energy bill heats up, one criticism of the legislation that has been levied extensively by Republicans and politicians from Southern and Western states is that the bill will transfer wealth from rural areas to more urban areas, or from the heartland to the coasts. For example, Michele [...]
Read More »With Oil Prices Falling, Signs Point to Long-Term Decline
Will the recent downturn in oil prices last? Signs are pointing to yes, according to Liam Denning’s analysis that appeared in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal.
Last Tuesday, crude oil traded at slightly above $73 per barrel; on Wednesday, a barrel cost $60. In just nine days, the price of the world’s most important commodity fell [...]
Echoing Yesterday’s CFTC Announcement, Heads of France and Britain Call for Curbing Oil Speculation
In an opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal Gordon Brown, prime minister of the UK and Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France, called upon other world leaders, the oil industry and the international business community to take steps toward stabilizing oil prices worldwide for the common good.
Their article points out that for the past two [...]
CFTC Chairman Announces Plans to Limit Speculation on Oil and Energy Markets
The federal government is now one step closer to placing the clamps on oil speculation.
Yesterday, Commodities Futures Trading Commission chairman Gary Gensler said that his agency is considering ways to limit the amount of energy futures contracts that oil speculators can hold, the New York Times reported. The CFTC will hold hearings over the next [...]
Industries Feel the Sting of Oil Price Volatility
The crude oil market has put on quite a show in the last year. Last summer, it reached record highs, topping over $145 per barrel. But just a few short months later, the price had completely bottomed out, dropping to $33 a barrel. This summer, has rebounded once again, recently reaching the $72 mark. This [...]
Read More »Heating Oil Users Would Pay Heavily Under Cap-and-Trade Law; Biofuels Could be the Solution
The Hartford Courant reported today that Connecticut, where more than half of all households use heating oil to keep warm, could bear the brunt of a broad climate change bill just approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Waxman Markey bill, otherwise known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act, was approved by the [...]
Pending Energy Bill Does Little to Reduce US Foreign Oil Dependence
The Obama administration has announced, broadly speaking, two main goals for their energy policy:
• Fighting climate change
• Reducing our dependence on often-unfriendly states for oil
There are other worthy goals also behind the Administration’s policy, such as creating new jobs in the green energy sector, but the two main thrusts are fighting global warming and improving [...]
NYMEX Oil Trader Predicts Lower Prices for Remainder of 2009
Many prognosticators expect the price of oil to rise over the rest of the year. This makes sense, as demand for crude will most likely rise if and when the economy picks back up.
However, NYMEX trader Ray Carbone sees it differently. On Wednesday, when interviewed on CNBC, Carbone said that he expects that oil prices [...]
Rep. DeFazio Calls for Tax on Crude Oil Futures and Options
The Associated Press reported this month that the Obama administration is warning lawmakers that the trust fund that pays for highway construction will go broke in August unless Congress approves an infusion of as much as $7 billion to keep current projects going. Another $8 billion to $10 billion will be needed to keep the [...]
Read More »FutureGen “Clean Coal” Plant Loses Two Investors
Will the FutureGen clean coal project ever get off the ground?
Last month, as reported here on The HEAT Zone, the federal government has allocated $1 billion in stimulus package funds towards the creation of FutureGen, a proposed coal-fired power plant with carbon sequestration technology in Illinois. A conglomeration of energy and coal companies have also [...]
