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"Every second, the world burns 275 metric tons of coal – enough to fill 10 large dump trucks. That makes nearly 17,000 tons per minute, or one million tons an hour. Quickly, the mass becomes so large that it’s difficult to comprehend its enormity, but I’ll take a stab at putting it into context: Every six hours, the world consumes enough to build a coal replica of the Great Pyramid of Giza.".

Javier Blas

Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy and commodities, talking about the greatly exaggerated demise of coal

Azi Feifel

COO PROSPECT RESOURCES

Trends in the Energy Market

JULY 2024

Current Market News

Prompt-month NYMEX settled at $2.13 / MMbtu on July 24th. Natural gas strip prices for 2025-2029 are in the range of $3.40, $3.73, $3.76, $3.70, and $3.64 respectively.
Natural gas production has risen modestly. production has recently been just over 101.8 Bcf per day.
Demand for electric-power generation is the primary driver for natural gas price variation. Demand for electric power generation is strong, averaging 48.4 Bcf per day this month, an all-time record.
June 2024 was the hottest on record since 1950. July is shaping up to be the hottest on record since 1950 as well. It continues to be very hot in the West. Wetter than normal conditions will persist in the South and Southeast. Expect above to much-above temperatures in the East in the coming week.
As of the 7/25 EIA storage report, natural gas inventories have diminished slightly; still 8.4% higher than last year and 16.4% higher than the 5-year average.

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And yet more...

WTI prompt-month crude fell earlier this week, settling at $79.79 per barrel, down $.34.
Crude oil continues to trade in a $10 range, with the bottom at $75 and top at $85.
Despite near-term softness, the geopolitical tensions remain in this market providing the potential for upside and "Bullish" outlook in crude oil.
The economy is in neutral. Home prices hit a new high in June for the second straight month. The spring home-buying season, usually the busiest time of year for the housing market, was very muted this year, per WSJ, There is an affordability problem at play.
Employers added 206,000 jobs in June. U.S. economic annualized growth was adjusted upward to 1.4%. Most "Fed watchers" are expecting a rate cut by October.
Power forward curves through 2028 have definitely been trending down slightly throughout much of the country. Prices are up in New England, and ERCOT remains quite high 2024 is still a pretty good mid-year bargain, although the coming summer has people concerned about supply safety margins.

Global LNG Supply Additions

Natural Gas Intel

The world is likely to be awash in LNG later this decade, but the surplus isn’t expected to last forever and divisions over how long the market would take to balance are coming into sharp relief.

Read Article

♦♦♦ CURRENT NEWS ♦♦♦

Political Climate Impacts the Energy Sector

MARKETS:

Biden Drops Out. What That Means for Banks, Energy Stocks, and Other 'Trump Trades'.

George Glover
So-called Trump trades like Bitcoin and energy stocks could unwind, while demand for safe-haven assets will likely tick up in the face of more uncertainty.

ENERGY POLICY:

Energy Policy Would Shift Left In A Kamala Harris Presidency

David Blackmon
Presumptive Democratic party nominee Kamala Harris has a history of endorsing energy policies that lie far to the left of the President she hopes to succeed.

CLIMATE CHANGE:

The Biden-Harris Climate-Energy Agenda Vs. The Trump-Vance One: Two Realities

Joan Michelson
Imagine not getting hurricane or tornado warnings. Trump's Project 2025 eliminates NOAA (the weather service). Here's a Harris admin. vs Trump 2.0 in climate and energy.

U.S. GAS:

U.S. Oil, Gas Drilling Activity Sees Rebound

Julianne Geiger

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday. The total…

LIQUID NATURAL GAS:

U.S. Natural Gas Market Becomes a Global LNG Force

Tsvetana Paraskova

After years of being more or less isolated from the rest of the world, U.S. benchmark natural gas prices are becoming an influential force in shaping the structure of many…

WEATHER:

Utilities Must Adapt, Not Just Respond To Extreme Weather

Leonard Hyman & William Tilles

After electricity is restored in Houston, people may ask with respect to future electricity reliability: what’s next? Well, in Houston we would characterize Centerpoint’s response as being more or less…

HEAT WAVE - ELECTRICITY DEMAND:

June heat wave increased electricity demand in the eastern and midwestern United States

Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Hourly Electric Grid Monitor

Electricity demand in the eastern and midwestern United States increased in June as a heatwave settled across the Midwest, mid-Atlantic, and Northeast regions of the United States. Demand across the Eastern Interconnection—which covers much of the mainland United States east of the Rocky Mountains except Texas—peaked at 502,670 megawatts (MW) in a single hour on June 21, compared with the hourly June peak of 467,609 MW in 2023.

COMMERCIAL - ELECTRICITY DEMAND:

Commercial electricity demand grew fastest in states with rapid computing facility growth

Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Electricity Data Browser

Consumption of electricity in the U.S. commercial sector has recovered from pandemic levels, with annual U.S. sales of electricity to commercial customers in 2023 totaling 14 billion kilowatthours (BkWh), or 1%, more than in 2019. However, the growth in commercial demand for electricity is concentrated in a handful of states experiencing rapid development of large-scale computing facilities such as data centers. Electricity demand has grown the most in Virginia, which added 14 BkWh, and Texas, which added 13 BkWh. Based on the EIA expectation that regional electricity demand will grow, they revised their forecasts upward for commercial electricity demand through 2025 in their June Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).

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