May 26th 2020

YOUR WEEKLY JOLT

This Memorial Day was different, for so many reasons. In addition to curtailed parades, modified tributes, and social distance celebrations meant to honor the military men and women who gave their lives to preserve the many freedoms we enjoy as Americans, those freedoms are currently under attack from a totally different kind of invisible enemy.

Again, the United States Armed Forces are selflessly putting their lives on the line to ensure we have enough hospital beds, to see that the ailing are being treated, to keep the peace, and to remind us what it means to serve and to sacrifice for this country. For your efforts, we are eternally grateful.

Now for this week’s Jolt.

Heating Oil

  • Prompt-month heating oil futures increased 6.74% for the week ending Friday, 5/22, as prices rose $0.062 per gallon.
  • On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude futures for delivery in June closed at $33.24 per barrel on Friday, 5/22, down 2.15% for the day, and up 12.87% for the week.
Why So Crude? Crude oil prices continued to rise last week and gained again on Tuesday, trading near $34 a barrel. Investors reacted bullishly to signs that oil producers were making good on their promises to cut crude supply while global demand picked up due to easing coronavirus-related restrictions. Russia reported that its oil output had decreased close to its 8.5 million barrels per day target while production in the United States also fell. The Baker Hughes oil rig count showed that the number of active rigs in the U.S. was down for the eighth straight week, going from 258 to 237. Total rigs are now down more than 65% since mid-March. The executive director of the International Energy Agency also offered an uplifting assessment on the demand side of oil, saying oil consumption hadn’t yet peaked and the virus had not resulted in a long-term impact on the market.
Natural Gas

  • Prompt-month natural gas futures increased $0.085 for the week ending Friday, 5/22, to settle at $1.731/Dth.
  • Overall supply decreased by 1.9 Bcf from the previous week. Total demand decreased by 7.6 Bcf.
  • Natural gas exports in February 2020 were 452,315 million cubic feet, compared with 329,954 million cubic feet in February 2019. This is a 37.08% increase.
  • Net injections into storage totaled 81 Bcf for the week ending 5/15, compared with the five-year average net injections of 87 Bcf and last year’s net injections of 101 Bcf during the same week.
  • Working gas stocks totaled 2,503 Bcf, coming in 407 Bcf higher than the five-year average and 779 Bcf more than the year-ago level.
Gap & Go. Natural gas futures edged higher last week with most of the gains attributed to last Monday’s “gap and go” rally which was the result of a steep drop in production numbers from the previous week. – FX Empire
Electricity

  • Average peak prices in NYC decreased last week, falling $0.90 to $15.20 per MWh.
  • Average peak prices in Central NY’s Zone C decreased, falling $1.32 to $13.14 per MWh.
  • Average peak prices in New Jersey’s PSE&G decreased, falling $1.36 to $14.52 per MWh.
  • Average peak prices in New Jersey’s ACE decreased, falling $1.41 to $14.03 per MWh.
  • Average peak prices in Pennsylvania’s PPL decreased, falling $0.90 to $14.28 per MWh.
  • Average peak prices in Maryland’s BGE decreased, falling $0.66 to $19.79 per MWh.
  • Calendar 2020 prices in NYC decreased $0.25 per MWh, and Zone C prices decreased $0.19 per MWh.
  • Calendar 2020 prices in PSE&G decreased $0.06 per MWh, and ACE prices decreased $0.06 per MWh.
  • Calendar 2020 prices in PPL decreased $0.05 per MWh.
Cargo Bike For The Family. Carqon’s first incarnation of the electric cargo bike focuses on families, just as cities begin to emerge from COVID-19 lockdowns. – The Verge
Technology

Image: The Verge
Three…Two…One. On the afternoon of May 27th, SpaceX is slated to launch its very first passengers to space, potentially heralding a new era of human spaceflight for the United States. It’ll be the first time in nearly a decade that people have launched to orbit from American soil, and it’ll be the first time that a private vehicle takes them there. – The Verge
Positive Energy

❤️ They’re years away from needing to don their own protective gear, but that’s not stopping young medical students around New York from rounding up thousands of donations of PPE for health care workers on the front lines of the city’s coronavirus epidemic. Laura McLaughlin, a New York University med student, is working with aspiring physicians across the city to collect personal protective equipment for doctors and nurses in need through PPE2NYC.com. Click here to check out the story.

About Us

Get Weekly Focus, our positively charged weekly energy email.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.