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Energy Literacy Advocates (ELA) is a non-partisan, non-profit, public education and advocacy group dedicated to improving the energy literacy of all sectors of our democracy in order to empower a comprehensive national energy policy that is responsible and sustainable. Stay tuned for updated energy news!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Oil Values Fall as Stockpiles Surge

The price of oil registered its largest drop in three months, based upon unexpected stockpile numbers from the US.

Supplies were up by 5.15 million barrels in the US, with a declining demand. Estimators predict that oil may touch $60 or lower in the next week. Supply has continued to outstrip demand, particularly in the US.

To read more, click here.

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posted by Amanda Voss at 11:44 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Placing Limits on Energy Speculation? Government to Consider It


Placing limits on speculative energy trading may be in the near future for the government. This speculative trading, blamed for part of the market and price fluctuations in energy commodities like oil, could see caps imposed on energy futures contracts.


Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Gary Gensler said that new authority could be used to limit the size of positions taken by speculative traders.


While futures prices are supposed to limit price volatility, the speculation surround them on the stock market is blamed for increasing price swings.


For more, click here.

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posted by Amanda Voss at 12:01 PM 0 comments

Monday, July 13, 2009

Prices Drop, Stockpiles Up for Oil

Crude oil prices continue to fall, due to growing stockpiles and declining demand. Oil prices touched $58 today in trading, down from the $73 high a month ago.

Near future prices will hinge primarily on economic reports, including inflation and consumer confidence indexes.

A further factor in the price of oil are attacks on Nigerian production areas by domestic opposition forces.

For a more full economic synopsis, click here.

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posted by Amanda Voss at 11:55 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Unpredicted Drop in US Demand for Gasoline

Bloomberg - On the heels of a seven month peak in oil prices, news of burgeoning inventories and an unexpected drop in demand pushed the cost of oil back down today.

Especially noteworthy was the major decline in US demand for gasoline. Demand fell 900,000 barrels to 17.7 million barrels a day last week, the biggest decrease since January 9. Gasoline consumption slipped 518,000 barrels to 9.02 million, the biggest decline since January 2005.

“It was surprising to see gasoline demand drop, because of the Memorial Day holiday,” said Mike Zarembski, senior commodity analyst at OptionsXpress Holdings Inc. in Chicago. “It’s probably a sign that consumers are cutting back on driving because of the run-up in retail prices.”

The peak U.S. gasoline demand period traditionally lasts from late May’s Memorial Day holiday until Labor Day in early September, as Americans take to the highways for vacations.

To read the full article, click here.

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posted by Amanda Voss at 1:21 PM 0 comments

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Some Investors Predict Oncoming Energy Price Surge

The New York Times is forecasting that investors are laying the groundwork for a dramatic upsurge in the energy and commodities markets, in spite of signs suggesting the overall economy is still deteriorating.

While demand is down, many oil analysts predict that the oil price has bottomed out.

The data "suggest the market balance between supply and demand is tighter than it was a year ago when we were trading $110 a barrel," Citigroup energy analyst Tim Evans said. "Over the longer cycle, I don't like to bet against OPEC."

To read the full article, click here.

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posted by Amanda Voss at 4:33 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Crude Oil Prices Rise on Speculation of Collaboration between Russia, OPEC

December 10, 2008 - On the economic markets, oil rose to $44.72 amid speculation that Russia would collaborate with OPEC in issuing oil production cuts. According to Bloomberg, OPEC and Russia are preparing to launch “significant” production cuts. Russia is the world’s second-largest exporter after Saudi Arabia.

OPEC meets December 17 in Algeria, and is expected to substantially cut oil output. Oil has lost 30 percent since the supply cuts issued in October. Production could be cut by as much as 2.5 million barrels per day.

While the success of production cut strategies hinge largely on market recovery, some analysts estimate that OPEC would like to see oil reach $100 a barrel soon.

To read the full article, click here.

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posted by Amanda Voss at 8:55 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Bloomberg: $250 Per Barrel of Oil?

After another day of record-setting oil on Wall Street, Alexei Miller, chief executive officer of OAO Gazprom, the world's biggest natural- gas company, predicted crude oil will climb to $250 a barrel in the "foreseeable future.'' If the "foreseeable future" includes $250 a barrel for crude oil, food prices double, plunging the U.S., Japan and Europe into deep recession. Companies go bankrupt. Airlines are nationalized. Sport-utility vehicle sales dry up as gasoline tops $7 a gallon.

Yet as these remarks touched off a storm of investing and options contract negotiations for fuel, criticism over Miller's prediction also grew. Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, New Jersey, is skeptical about Miller's prediction because it may benefit Gazprom. "It's silly to take people with incredibly vested interests as having an unfettered, unbiased opinion,'' Kloza says. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania, says the firm's economic models break down if the price of oil goes over $200 a barrel. "The U.S. goes into deep recession, as does most of Europe and Japan, and that takes much of the developing economies with it,'' he says. "I don't see how we get to $250 because the economy is broken long before that, and demand falls and that causes prices to fall.''

To read more of this article, click here.

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posted by Amanda Voss at 11:07 AM 0 comments

Thursday, February 7, 2008

What Washington Can Learn From Montana

The article below, from Time magazine, does a wonderful job of framing 1) how the mountain west region is more vulnerable to energy price spikes and climate change, 2) how the mountain west can play an integral (and profitable) role in a new energy future, and 3) how states might provide a "prototype" environment for new energy policies prior to their adoption by the federal government.

Read the article here.

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posted by Jamie Lang at 3:47 PM 0 comments

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