EarlyBird News

Despite the recent trend which suggests that natural gas production is on the rise and coal may never recover, the opposite may be the case. The root of this possible reversal lies in the huge difficulty of accurately measuring the natural gas reserve. There is massive uncertainty with regard to the natural gas supply; only […]

In the wake of Patriot Coal’s filing for bankruptcy on Monday, other coal stocks have plummeted. James River Coal (JRCC) began the week at $3.47 and dropped a whopping 42.7 % to $1.99 at the market’s close on Friday, Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) started the week at $8.71 and ended at $7.63, Peabody Energy Corp […]

In their usual weekly report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported today that last week natural gas in underground storage increased by 1.27 percent (by 39 billion cubic feet, from 3,063 Bcf on 6/22 to 3,102 Bcf on 6/29). The natural gas stock is now 24.1 percent above last year’s total (2,500 Bcf) and 22.7 […]

Debby, the first tropical storm of 2012, has shut down nearly a quarter of oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico. In doing so, present and future natural gas prices have increased. Since the storm is characterized by relatively stationary heavy rains (it was moving at about 3 miles per hour as […]

A Commercial or Industrial Business’s Electricity Costs can be very closely correlated to the price of Natural Gas. In areas of the country that are primarily supplied by Natural Gas, like the Northeast, the Price of Electricity = (Price of Natural Gas x Heat Rate) + Retail Adder, ( the additional premium to Suppliers charge […]

The official electric generation data for the first quarter of 2012 are in.http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/steo/pdf/steo_full.pdf. Coal only provided 36% of America’s electricity in the first quarter, down from 44.6% in the first quarter of 2011.  That equates to a 20% loss of coal’s electricity generation market share in one year. Coal’s loss was natural gas’s gain.  Natural gas jumped 8 […]

  NSTAR annaounced rates July-December 2012 $/kWh Commercial, Street LightingFixed Price Option (July – December): 6.686 Monthly Variable Price OptionJuly: 6.738August: 6.700September: 6.173October: 6.200November: 6.447December: 7.796 Industrial (NEMA)Fixed Price Option (July – September): 5.550 Monthly Variable Price OptionJuly: 5.695August: 5.629September: 5.300 Industrial (SEMA)Fixed Price Option (July – September): 5.362 Monthly Variable Price OptionJuly: 5.545August: 5.461September: […]

Natural gas below $2- The price of natural gas has fallen below $2 per 1,000 cubic feet for the first time in more than a decade, a remarkable decline for a commodity that not long ago was believed to be in short supply. The U.S. supply of natural gas is growing so fast that analysts […]

Natural gas prices fell Thursday after spring-like weather blanketed much of the country, raising expectations that demand will remain weak. At the same time, supplies have stayed well above year-ago levels. The amount of natural gas in storage in the U.S. fell 80 billion cubic feet to 2.433 trillion cubic feet last week. That figure […]

James Lash, head of FirstEnergy’s generation unit, indicated in a press release that a review of the company’s coal-fired plants determined it would not be cost-effective to get the older ones into compliance with environmental regulations the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced in December. The new standards are designed to reduce emissions of mercury and other toxic […]