Weekly Focus: Positively Charged Energy News

Week Beginning October 31, 2022Today is Halloween, which has its origins in a Celtic festival called Samhain, where people would ward off ghosts while wearing costumes around a bonfire. The festival also marked the end of the summer and harvest season, and the beginning of winter.
Petroleum
Heating oil prices are averaging $5.704 per gallon nationally, down $0.018 per gallon last week. Prices are up $2.307 per gallon from last year at this same time.
 
Gasoline is averaging $3.769 per gallon nationally, which is down $0.102 per gallon from last week. That is up $0.386 per gallon from last year.
 
Diesel is averaging $5.341 per gallon nationally this week, up just slightly from last week. Prices are expected to increase over the next few weeks due to a shortage in supply and an increase in demand.
 
Propane prices are holding steady, with the national average coming in at $2.647 per gallon, which is down $0.017 per gallon from last week.
Natural Gas
The NYMEX 12-month strip rose $0.14/dth on the week after the big drop the previous week. The market, at least for now, decided the previous week’s drop was enough to reflect the bearish price signals related to supply-demand fundamentals. The weekly storage injection came in at 52 Bcf, smaller than the five-year average and slightly increasing the deficit to the five-year average to about 5.5%. Gas production on the week averaged 96.8 Bcf/day, a number strong enough to keep a lid on price gains as heating demand begins to increase some in the Northeast. The market will continue to watch production levels in the face of the recent decline in future price levels. EQT, the country’s largest gas producer by volume, recently reaffirmed its intentions to stay disciplined in 2023 and not grow production volumes significantly, instead, using cash for share buybacks and debt reduction.
 
Price movement this week will be impacted by near term and longer-term weather forecasts as early November is shaping up to be mild in the Northeast.
Electricity
Power forwards were relatively flat for the week, following the free fall from the previous week. NYC UCAP had some gains in the outer years and is continuing its trend upward. NJ Class 2 RECs were up about 5%, with very little movement elsewhere.
Sustainability
Disney Springs has added fast charging EV charging stations at its shopping and entertainment venue. The company also has EV charging stations at its Disney World theme parks and its Coronado Springs Resort.
 
The rise in electric vehicles means there needs to be a place to charge them. If you are considering an EV charging station for your property, reach out to an Energy Advisor to learn about your options.