February 17 2020

YOUR WEEKLY JOLT

Originally started back in 1885 to honor George Washington, President’s Day was later moved as part of 1971’s Uniform Monday Holiday Act, in an attempt to create more three-day weekends for the nation’s workers. Though for many of us, it’s just a rather quiet day at the office, without a few distractions and unpaid street parking.

The holiday is also now widely recognized as a chance to honor all United States Presidents. We can’t help but think fondly on early Elementary School days when a Presidential Pop Quiz could happen at any moment. Turns out these are not very effective, as less than 1% of adult Americans can name all 45 presidents. We then tested our own knowledge, which sadly helped to validate this statistic.

So here is this week’s Jolt, followed by a list of all U.S. Presidents.


Heating Oil

  • Prompt-month heating oil futures increased 3.35% for the week ending Friday, 2/14, as prices rose $0.0550 per gallon.
  • On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude futures for delivery in March closed at $52.07 per barrel on Friday, 2/14, up 1.07% for the day, and up 3.48% for the week.

Why So Crude? Crude oil prices climbed last week and rose slightly on Monday, trading over $52 a barrel. Prices increased for the first time if 6 weeks on optimism that the worst of the economic impact from the coronavirus had passed. China asserted that the growth of new confirmed cases was falling and that efforts to halt the spread of the virus were having an impact, though some experts remained cautious and warned that it could be too early to tell. Japan reported that it’s economy shrank 6.3% in the 4th quarter of 2019, creating some concerns that oil demand would be negatively affected. The Bakers Hughes oil rig count increased last week, going from 676 to 678 and indicating elevated domestic production.


Natural Gas

  • Prompt-month natural gas futures decreased $0.021 for the week ending Friday, 2/14, to settle at $1.837/Dth.
  • Overall supply increased by 0.2 Bcf from the previous week. Total demand increased by 3.5 Bcf.
  • Natural gas exports in November 2019 were 440,193 million cubic feet, compared with 337,716 million cubic feet in November 2018. This is a 30.34% increase.
  • Net withdrawals from storage totaled 115 Bcf, compared with the 5 year average net withdrawal of 131 Bcf and last year’s net withdrawal of 101 Bcf during the same week.
  • Working gas stocks total 2,494 Bcf, coming in 215 Bcf more than the five-year average and 601 Bcf more than last year at this time.

Two-Decade Low! Warmer winter weather this year has reduced U.S. natural gas demand for heating, and as production growth continues to exceed demand growth, U.S. natural gas prices slumped this month to their lowest February levels in two decades, the EIA said on Friday. – OilPrice.com


Electricity

  • Average peak prices in NYC increased last week, rising $1.58 to $23.51 per MWh.
  • Average peak prices in Central NY’s Zone C increased, rising $0.76 to $20.13 per MWh.
  • Average peak prices in New Jersey’s PSE&G increased, rising $0.93 to $19.62 per MWh.
  • Average peak prices in New Jersey’s ACE increased, rising $1.10 to $19.47 per MWh.
  • Average peak prices in Pennsylvania’s PPL increased, rising $0.46 to $18.41 per MWh.
  • Average peak prices in Maryland’s BGE increased, rising $0.52 to $22.83 per MWh.
  • Calendar 2020 prices in NYC decreased $0.40 per MWh, and Zone C prices decreased $0.25 per MWh.
  • Calendar 2020 prices in PSE&G decreased $0.32 per MWh, and ACE prices decreased $0.28 per MWh.
  • Calendar 2020 prices in PPL decreased $0.28 per MWh.

It’s A Jeep Thing! Have a hard time deciding whether to take the Jeep or ride your bike? Now you can just take your Jeep Electric Bike. Problem solved. – Inside Hook


Technology

Out Of This World! SpaceX has launched a batch of 60 Starlink satellites to orbit, marking its fifth overall launch of a group of 60 of the small spacecraft and its third this year alone. This launch brings the total constellation to 300 satellites for Starlink on orbit, extending SpaceX’s lead as the largest commercial satellite operator in the world.- Tech Crunch