Oil prices fell nearly 4 percent to below $70 a barrel on Monday as fear of a curb in Chinese bank lending dented optimism about the pace of economic recovery and a potential rebound in global energy demand.
If NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG) were an athletic prospect, scouts would rate it as a “triple threat.” That’s because the Princeton-based wholesale power generator is involved in all three of the key energy sources of the future: Solar, wind and nuclear.
Oil prices slipped below $72 on Friday as losses on Wall Street and gains in the U.S. dollar dragged on commodities markets.
Despite the ‘demand destruction’ hype, it is interesting to note that during this severe global recession, worldwide oil usage has dropped by a minuscule 2.7%. So, what will happen when the world comes out of this recession? Who will rise up to the challenge and meet our insatiable thirst for energy? These are critical questions not many are willing to ask.
Oil fell to near $71 a barrel on Wednesday, extending hefty losses from the previous session, as rising stockpiles of U.S. crude outweighed positive economic data.
Recently, I had the unique opportunity to tour two different oil sands operations near Fort McMurray, in northern Alberta. I saw a massive open-pit oil sands mine, and the associated reclamation effort, operated by Syncrude Canada Ltd. I also visited an in situ oil sands recovery project called Surmont, operated by ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP).
After earning hefty profits on its commodities trading for nearly 18 years, heavyweight trader Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) now finds itself on the hot seat, defending this crucial source of revenue. And while that may not be good for Goldman, it’s also bad for investors. Let me explain…
Renewable energy — certainly electricity from windmills — has to compete against energy from other sources. The typical base line price competition for electricity is the price for a kilowatt generated in a coal-fired plant. Lately, with the price of natural gas down so low, even gas-fired electricity is competitive with coal. So where does that leave windmills?
Natural gas prices are dropping like a rock today, but the bearishness is not preventing a few bulls from taking million-dollar stands. As winter approaches, things are going to get very interesting.
A couple of weeks ago I was in Fort McMurray, Alberta. I was visiting two large oil sands operations, courtesy of Conoco Phillips (NYSE:COP), Syncrude Canada and the American Petroleum Institute, which sponsored the trip. I’ve been all over the place, but never to a working oil sands operation. This was a first for me, and quite an eye-opener.
