Natural Gas Price Rose the Most of All Commodities During 2000s
Marcellus Shale well in Northwestern PA. (image: LJSTEINCO via flickr.com)
Putting its own spin on the onslaught of end-of-decade roundups, the Wall Street Journal’s Environmental Capital Blog entered the fray with a look back at the most expensive commodities of the aughts. Referring to a report published on Wednesday by Barclays Capital that calculated the change in price on 17 commodities from the last decade to this one, blogger Russell Gold pointed out that the one commodity that saw the biggest price bump in the 00’s was natural gas. Natural gas cost on average $6.50 per million British thermal units in the 00’s, which is nearly a 142% increase over its average cost of $2.70 during the ‘90s. As Gold went on to note, all four of the top commodities—ranked by the biggest percentage price increase—in Barclay’s report were energy products, with heating oil and crude tied for second place, followed by gasoline. Here is the rundown of the four most valuable commodities of the last decade from the Barclay’s report, followed by the percentage increase in cost they saw from the previous decade:
natural gas – 142%
heating oil – 102%
crude oil – 102%
gasoline – 91%
While these significant price bumps don’t necessarily dictate where prices will head in the energy sector, they do, as Gold aptly noted, shine a light on natural gas. Natural gas is, as he writes “efficient, versatile and releases half as much carbon as coal to generate the same amount of power.” As the profile of natural gas rises, many theorize, so will the price. However, that price may be offset by some of the discoveries of potentially rich natural gas reserves, such as the one in the Marcellus Shale formation in the U.S.
