Michael Giberson The chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Gary Gensler, has announced that the agency will hold a series of meetings in July and August to consider how it can use its existing statutory authority to “ensure the fair, open and efficient functioning of futures markets.” The first of the meetings will focus …
CFTC to Consider Position Limits on Energy Futures Contracts Read More »
Michael Giberson The New York Times observes that crude oil price volatility has been exceptionally high for the last eighteen months. (Hmmm. Eighteen months ago … January 2008 … the Iowa caucuses … the U.S. presidential primary season gets underway in earnest … nahhh, couldn’t be all due to presidential politics.) Actually, eyeballing the chart …
Michael Giberson Robert Rapier asks what is likely the least frequently asked question ever: “What if I’m wrong?” Rapier explores that question with respect to his beliefs on peak oil and global warming, but it is good, all-around, general purpose question that should be put to more frequent use.
Lynne Kiesling Over the past few days Josh Blonz at Common Tragedies had a couple of posts (here and here) about the permit allocation issues in the Waxman-Markey bill, and yesterday Tim Haab picked up the conversation thread. They are both focusing on the welfare and efficiency implications of the proposal to allocate permits to …
Another Waxman-markey Blemish: Reinforcing the Obsolete Utility Business Model Read More »
Michael Giberson Natural gas has become cheap enough relative to coal that some gas-fired electric generators are able to underbid baseload coal generators. Market-based switching from coal power to gas has increased demand for gas by three billion cubic feet per day according to a Merrill Lynch analysis cited in the Wall Street Journal today. …
Michael Giberson Kristen Hays reports on the current natural gas supply conditions in the Houston Chronicle: rig counts down, production remains strong, and natural gas in storage is increasing. The US Department of Energy predicts natural gas consumption will fall 2.2 percent this year and grow slightly in 2010. While drilling rigs are being shut …
Michael Giberson The ethanol industry is suffering and The Wichita Eagle asks, “Will wind energy follow ethanol’s path?“ The answer is: Possibly. It depends on politics, the health of the credit markets and the price of coal, oil and natural gas. Oil prices are moving up, recently exceeding $70 bbl in NYMEX trading, but gas …
Michael Giberson The answer to the title question is “nothing,” according to Marc Gunther (though he admits of the difficulty of being certain when the bill is 932 pages and still in process). The kind of kites he has in mind are high-altitude solar power collectors, under development by the Makani Power company. That Waxman-Markey …
What Does Waxman-markey Have to Say About Kites? Read More »
Michael Giberson Robert Rapier explains a few ins and outs of ethanol. For example, he observes that ethanol producers like to claim that it is the oil company which blends ethanol into gasoline that is subsidized, not the ethanol producer itself (since the blender gets a credit against federal taxes — in fact, I just …
Lynne Kiesling Tim Haab did it, so Mike and I don’t have to! Yep, gas prices are creeping up again (Click graph to the right). Why? Here’s one possible explanation from Bloomberg: Apparently, non-OPEC suppliers are likely to see their supplies decline over the next year, and OPEC suppliers don’t have the capacity to make …
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