Your Weekly Jolt ? Leaf Peeping

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YOUR WEEKLY JOLT

Those colors look great on you! As the nights get longer and the temperatures begin to sway, the changing leaves from oaks, maples, poplars, beech, and other deciduous trees again deliver their short-lived, visually spectacular autumnal phenomenon. As you know, this seasonal shift quickly has different implications, involving rakes, blowers, mulching, and so on.

For now, we might as well marvel at the stunning array of peaking colors, and enjoy this week’s jolt.


HEATING OIL 

  • Prompt-month heating oil futures decreased 0.54% for the week ending Friday, 10/18, as prices fell $0.0105 per gallon.
  • On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude futures for delivery in November closed at $53.78 per barrel on Friday, 10/18, down 0.57% for the day, and down 1.68% for the week.

Why so crude? Crude oil prices fell last week and continued to slide on Monday, trading around $53 a barrel. Investors reacted to reports that Russia had missed its target for oil output cuts after agreeing to reduce supply by 1.2 million barrels per day beginning in 2019. OPEC members Kuwait and Saudi Arabia also indicated that they were making progress in talks to resume oil production from joint fields between the two countries after a three-year break. In addition, concerns about China’s weak GDP growth influenced the market and kept prices in check as worries remained about low global energy demand. The Baker Hughes oil rig count rose last week, going from 712 to 713 and indicating increased domestic production.


GASOLINE & DIESEL 

  • U.S. regular gasoline prices decreased by $0.015/gallon or 0.55% from the previous week to average $2.727/gallon.
  • Gasoline prices are down $0.234/gallon from a year ago.
  • U.S. on-highway diesel fuel prices increased by $0.004/gallon or 0.13% from the previous week to average $3.051/gallon.
  • Diesel prices are down $0.343/gallon from a year ago.

Fall Prices Are Climbing! Tightening gas supplies are pushing prices at the pump slightly higher—might want to consider filling those gas cans you use to power fall clean-up, in case the trend continues. – AAA


NATURAL GAS 

  • Prompt-month natural gas futures increased $0.04 for the week ending Friday, 10/18, to settle at $2.32/Dth.
  • Overall supply increased by 0.4 Bcf from the previous week. Total demand was flat.
  • Natural gas exports in July 2019 were 391,082 million cubic feet, compared with 305,997 million cubic feet in July 2018. This is a 27.81% increase.
  • Net injections into storage totaled 104 Bcf, compared with the 5 year average net injections of 81 Bcf and last year’s net injections of 82 Bcf during the same week.
  • Working gas stocks total 3,519 Bcf, coming in 14 Bcf more than the five-year average and 494 Bcf more than last year at this time.

Waiting On Winter! On Thursday, October 17, the Energy Information Administration reported the highest injection into inventories of the year in the natural gas market. Meanwhile, the price of natural gas fell to a low at under the $2.20 per MMBtu level on Friday, October 11, but recovered. Despite the significant injection last week, the price was back above the $2.30 per MMBtu level on Friday, October 18. We are coming into the time of the year when uncertainty peaks in the natural gas futures market. – Seeking Alpha


ELECTRICITY 

  • Average peak prices in NYC decreased last week, falling $1.23 to $19.81 per MWh.
  • Average peak prices in New Jersey’s PSE&G increased, rising $5.95 to $23.80 per MWh.
  • Average peak prices in Central NY’s Zone C increased, rising $4.50 to $20.42 per MWh.
  • Calendar 2020 prices in NYC increased $0.03 per MWh, and PSE&G prices increased $0.05 per MWh.
  • Calendar 2020 prices in Zone C increased $0.38 per MWh.

Building Power! Energy used in the buildings sector—which includes residential and commercial structures—accounted for 20% of global delivered energy consumption in 2018. In its International Energy Outlook 2019 (IEO2019) Reference case, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that global energy consumption in buildings will grow by 1.3% per year on average from 2018 to 2050. – U.S. Energy Information Administration


TECHNOLOGY

Instagram

Instagram Test Helps You Choose People To Unfollow – AP Photo/Amr Alfiky

Use Instagram for long enough and you’ll probably rack up a few contacts that you don’t really care about — someone you followed on impulse and quickly forgot, perhaps. You might have a way to prune those unnecessary connections before long. App sleuther Jane Manchun Wong has discovered that Instagram is testing a way to group followers into categories, making them “easier to manage.” You could look at the “least interacted with” crowd to unfollow a bunch of them en masse, or browse just those accounts posting artwork. – Engadget