Natural gas and how to play it
MoneyWeek
Oil is the energy resource that captures public attention – nearly all of us need its products to drive around every day, and feel the pain of prices of $130 a barrel, or thereabouts, when we fill our cars at the pumps.
But its poor cousin natural gas could be the one now offering more interesting investment opportunities:
Sweeping Rahall Bill Would Overhaul Federal Oil and Gas Leasing, Royalties
By Noelle Straub / The New York Times
House Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) introduced a bill yesterday to forge a new Interior agency to govern oil and gas leasing on federal lands and to overhaul the federal royalty system.
The far-reaching bill also includes measures to improve planning for offshore energy development, address wind and solar programs, and boost funding for ocean conservation and land acquisition. It comes largely as a response to a series of scandals and scathing government watchdog reports on the federal agencies that handle oil and gas drilling on public lands.
First Solar to Build World’s Largest Solar Power Plant in China
By John Duce and Indira A.R. Lakshmanan / Bloomberg.com
Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) — First Solar Inc., a U.S.-based renewable energy company, will build the world’s largest solar power plant in China as the country plans to increase non- polluting electricity generation.
The plant would be about thirty times larger than existing solar power stations operating in Europe, Dulce Qu, a Beijing- based spokeswoman for company, said by telephone today. The 2,000-megawatt complex will be built in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, China by 2019, Tempe, Arizona-based First Solar said yesterday. One mega watt is enough to power 800 U.S. homes.
Energy stocks open mixed as crude extends gains
By Jim Jelter / Market Watch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Oil and gas stocks edged narrowly higher at the open Wednesday as crude-oil futures extended their winning streak to a third straight session. Early trades sent the NYSE Arca Oil Index
Winter may heat up natural gas prices
By Markus Ermisch / Sun Media
August, 27, 2009
Finance Minister Iris Evans says she’s not relying on winter to give depressed natural gas prices a boost, but chances are that at this point, Jack Frost is the government’s best friend.
Alberta’s government, in yesterday’s budget update, lowered its forecast for the price of natural gas to $3.75 per gigajoule, a cut of $1.75 from the forecast included in April’s provincial budget. Natural gas royalties for the fiscal year are now estimated at $1.9 billion, $1.8 billion lower than the budget estimate.
The government also adjusted the average oil price to $61 US a barrel, up from the $55.50 US contained in the budget. The higher oil price is offset by an appreciating loonie, and oil royalties are now forecast to drop $333 million to $1.9 billion.