Archive for August, 2009
Maine Heating Oil Prices Drop To $2.40 Per Gallon
The Associated Press reported today via Maine News Updates that average heating oil prices in Maine have fallen 2 cents in the last week.
Now $2.40 per gallon, this is the first weekly decline in six weeks. As HeatingOil.com reported just a few weeks ago, heating oil prices in Maine had been steadily rising for four [...]
Energy Analyst: Peak Oil is a Foolish Fear
These days, the theory of global peak oil is generally accepted as fact. Geologists (remember Hubbert?) say we have a finite amount of fossil fuels stored on Earth, and that given the demand for crude, we will inevitably run out.
But some people, like New York Times OpEd contributor Michael Lynch, aren’t buying it.
Lynch – the [...]
Oil Prices Rise With Number of Speculators in the Market, Study Shows
In 2002, speculators—traders who use oil only as a financial investment and never take physical delivery of it—accounted for 20 percent of oil traders. At that time, the price of crude oil was in the mid-$20s per barrel. When oil prices peaked in 2008 above $145 per barrel, 55 percent of traders were speculators. Right [...]
Read More »Heating Oil Price Trend for Monday August 31: +1¢
The main Chinese stock index fell sharply this morning, driving down the market prices of crude and heating oil. China is expected to be the main source of oil demand that will lead a global demand recovery as the recession winds down. As Chinese stock markets posted losses today, the nation’s reliability as an econmomic [...]
Read More »Green Energy Companies Planning Huge Power Plant Near Detroit
Two companies that specialize in renewable energy have plans on developing an abandoned industrial plant formerly used by the Ford Motor Company, the Detroit News reported Thursday.
The Wixom plant, an abandoned Ford Motor plant located outside of Detroit, could become an “energy park” that could create over 4,000 jobs in the economically struggling region. The [...]
Will Limits on Speculation Succeed in Stabilizing Crude and Heating Oil Prices?
As the debate over speculative limits in the oil markets continues, the Financial Times took a look Thursday at how effective such limits really are. The article examines the 2005 decision by the Chicago Board of Trade and the CFTC to implement limits on non-commercial entities in the corn, wheat, soybean, and oat futures markets. [...]
Read More »CNBC Commemorates 150 Years of Oil With Panel Discussion on its Future
Yesterday marked the 150th anniversary of the first working oil well, drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859. To commemorate the event, CNBC hosted a panel discussion of oil as the world’s most important source of energy and its future.
Dan Yergin, Chairman of the IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, and John Hofmeister, former president of Shell [...]
Q&A: Home Energy Audits Lower Heating Oil and Other Energy Expenses
Home energy audit (n): an evaluation of a home that determines its overall energy efficiency. It includes rating how well a home holds in heat in the winter and cool air in the summer, as well as the energy efficiency of its appliances heating and cooling systems. Auditors evaluate the home using a variety of [...]
Read More »Heating Oil Price Trend for Friday August 28: +2¢
A late rally on stock markets yesterday and positive news on GDP from the US and UK this morning combined to lift crude and heating oil prices today. Crude oil has been trading roughly between $70 and $75 per barrel in recent weeks, and continuing high supply and low demand will likely hold that range [...]
Read More »Oil Prices are Up, Natural Gas Prices Are Down—But the Trend Won’t Last
As Time Magazine reported today, oil prices have been increasing and natural gas prices have been falling in recent weeks and months. Since December 2008, crude oil prices have increased from around $30 per barrel to over $70 per barrel; at the same time, natural gas prices have decreased from $6 per million BTU [...]
Read More »Price of Solar Panels Falling, Could Lead To Lower Long-Term Heating Oil Costs
The New York Times reported Wednesday that the price of solar panels has dropped by about 40 percent since the middle of last year. For homeowners in the market for solar energy, the price drops could lessen the time it takes for the panels to pay for themselves – from 22 years to 16.
The price [...]
Heating Oil Charity Holding Fundraiser in Kittery, Maine
The town of Kittery, Maine will host a fundraiser for Fuel and More, a local organization that provides heating oil for the area’s needy families, seacoastonline.com reported yesterday.
On Saturday, September 19, the town will host the Fuel and More River Dance. The event will take place at the Weathervane Seafood Restaurant. On top of dancing, [...]
Dept. of Energy Fails to Use Thermostats to Conserve…Energy
It could be a headline from The Onion. Instead, it’s a headline from the New York Times.
In an article entitled, “Energy Department Fails to Use Thermostats to Cut Costs,” the Times reports that an in-house audit revealed that the Energy Department fails to use automatic thermostats that conserve energy by shutting down heating and cooling [...]
Heating Oil Price Trend for Thursday August 27: -1¢
Oil prices continued to drop today as traders sought to cash in on residual gains from last week’s 2009 highs and full US inventories continued to serve as a crucial indicator of extremely week demand in the world’s largest oil-consuming nation.
Today’s average retail heating oil price in the Northeast is 1 cent lower per gallon [...]
Recent Rise in Heating Oil Prices Caused By Speculation, but Big Inventories Now Driving Prices Down
Government data released today showed a slight increase in crude oil inventories over the last week, the Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch reported. Energy Information Administration data showed a 200,000 barrel increase in crude oil inventories for the week ended August 21. While this was a much smaller uptick that the 4.3 million barrel increase reported [...]
Read More »CFTC Commissioner Chilton: Current High Prices Prove Need for Limits on Oil Speculation
In a San Francisco Chronicle opinion piece published today, Bart Chilton once again called for regulation against excessive speculation in the oil markets. Chilton, a commissioner on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trade Commission, points out that while oil supply is at a record high and demand at a record low, prices remain sky high. So [...]
Read More »Solar Power Put to New Use: Drilling for Oil
Solar energy, one of the “hottest” new types of energy, is being tested as a way to produce to more oil, the New York Times reported yesterday. BrightSource Energy is building a 29-megawatt solar steam plant at a California oil field to increase oil production. 7,000 mirrors will focus sunlight on a boiler at the [...]
Read More »Analyst Schork Sees Oil “Bubble”–Heating Oil Price Collapse Could Come Soon
In a Bloomberg podcast on Friday, veteran oil industry observer and analyst Stephen Schork stated that oil prices are currently being driven by speculation, not supply and demand. According to Schork, if price were determined by supply and demand, crude would cost $50 per barrel, not over $70. Crude inventories are at near record levels; [...]
Read More »Swedish Neighborhood Provides Futuristic Model of Green Living, Energy Efficiency
In a redeveloped neighborhood in Stockholm, Sweden, waste is getting turned into energy.
While synthetic biofuel made from trash is among the renewable alternatives to fossil fuels that we’ve written about here, the infrastructure in Hammarby Sjostad is especially cool.
That’s because residents of the eco-neighborhood put their garbage into pneumatic tubes – futuristic-looking, pressurized chutes that [...]
Heating Oil Price Trend for Wednesday August 26: -6¢
The belief that recent high prices of crude and heating oil brought on by hopes of economic recovery were exposed as overly optimistic yesterday, when prices plummeted from their 2009 peaks. This morning, expectations of incresaes in crude and distillate inventories continued to drive prices downward.
Today’s average retail heating oil price in the Northeast is [...]
