The U.S. Natural Gas Council on Wednesday released its "core" principles on
reliability for the industry, stressing that recent price fluctuations were
normal and supplies sufficient to meet booming demand. The announcement came
as the result of a meeting of the Council last month, where members from the
American Petroleum Institute, the American Gas Association, the Independent
Petroleum Association of America and other industry groups listed their five
principles on reliability. The Department of Energy's research arm, the Energy
Information Administration, has said recently that low inventories of natural
gas, combined with strong demand fueled by consistent economic growth, could
spike home heating prices for consumers by up to 50 percent this winter. The
Natural Gas Council said even though demand is strong, and market prices
fluctuating, the situation would work out over time. The Council listed its
five points as follows:
"1. Natural gas is a clean, safe, efficient and reliable fuel, which is why
the market is demanding natural gas, and why demand from all customer sectors
is increasing.
2. The North American natural gas resource base is ample to supply the
growing market.
3. A strong U.S. economy has increased demand for all forms of energy.
Recent fluctuations in natural gas prices are the market's way of balancing
supply and demand.
4. Free markets haven't always been allowed to work for natural gas, and
consumers have suffered the consequences. For many years, the federal
government regulated the price paid to natural gas producers, the "wellhead"
price.
This intervention resulted in artificial shortages, and government
officials wisely decided to let competition evolve instead.
During the past 15 years, demand for natural gas has grown while the prices
paid for natural gas service declined in real terms from 1985-1999.
5. The Natural Gas Council is committed to providing reliable service to
natural gas customers and to working with customers and federal and state
officials to help resolve questions about trends in natural gas supply, demand
and deliverability."
The Energy Information Administration issued the following report on
Wednesday:
U.S. Petroleum Balance Sheet, 4 Weeks Ending 08/11/00
Cumulative
Four Week Averages Daily Averages
Ending 223 Days
Petroleum Supply % ---------------- %
(Thousand Barrels per Day) 08/11/00 08/11/99 Chg 2000 1999 Chg
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crude Oil Supply
Domestic Production (1) ........ E5,764 5,792 -0.5 E5,827 5,871 -0.7
Net Imports (Incl SPR) (2) ..... 9,365 9,094 3.0 8,667 8,756 -1.0
Gross Imports (Excl SPR) ..... 9,456 9,208 2.7 8,764 8,894 -1.5
SPR Imports .................. 17 11 -- 7 1 --
Exports ...................... E109 124 -12.1 E105 140 -25.0
SPR Stocks W/D or Added ........ -53 -9 -- -16 -18 --
Other Stocks W/D or Added ...... 198 189 -- -9 -13 --
Product Supplied and Losses .... E0 0 -- E0 0 --
Unaccounted-for Crude Oil (3)... 493 193 -- 497 220 --
Crude Oil Input to Refineries... 15,766 15,259 3.3 14,966 14,815 1.0
Other Supply
Natural Gas Liquids Prod. (6)... E2,178 2,108 3.3 E2,194 1,946 12.7
Other Liquids New Supply ....... E188 133 41.4 E169 214 -21.0
Crude Oil Product Supplied ..... E0 0 0.0 E0 0 0.0
Processing Gain ................ E994 879 13.1 E958 846 13.2
Net Product Imports (4) ........ 1,111 1,493 -25.6 1,168 1,445 -19.2
Gross Product Imports (4) .... 2,005 2,280 -12.1 2,067 2,212 -6.6
Product Exports (4) .......... E894 788 13.5 E899 768 17.1
Prod Stocks W/D or Added (5).... -182 45 -- -185 78 --
Tot Prod Supplied for Domestic.. 20,054 19,918 0.7 19,269 19,343 -0.4
Products Supplied
Finished Motor Gasoline (6) .... 8,637 8,812 -2.0 8,294 8,384 -1.1
Naphtha-Type Jet Fuel .......... 0 -3 -100.0 2 -2 -200.0
Kerosene-Type Jet Fuel ......... 1,744 1,681 3.7 1,652 1,664 -0.7
Distillate Fuel Oil ............ 3,541 3,464 2.2 3,601 3,530 2.0
Residual Fuel Oil .............. 986 840 17.4 763 846 -9.8
Other Oils (7) ................. 5,146 5,124 0.4 4,957 4,921 0.7
Total Products Supplied ........ 20,054 19,918 0.7 19,269 19,343 -0.4
Total Net Imports .............. 10,476 10,587 -1.0 9,835 10,201 -3.6
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. crude oil production during July increased a slight 0.3 percent from the
same period last year to 5.812 million barrels per day (bpd), the American
Petroleum Institute said on Wednesday. It was the fourth consecutive month of
production increases over year-ago levels. But total U.S. crude output felt
the drag of a 7 percent drop in Alaska production, the trade group said in its
monthly petroleum report. The state pumped just 921,000 bpd in July, its
lowest level in more than 20 years, the API said. Crude oil production in the
lower 48 states increased by 1.7 percent to 4.891 million bpd, due mostly to
bigger offshore output. The rise included production from deepwater sites of
more than 1,000 feet in the Gulf of Mexico, which has increased 30 percent
from a year earlier. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported last
week that domestic oil production also averaged 5.8 million bpd in July, the
lowest level for the month since 1950. U.S. crude oil prices have climbed
above $31 a barrel during the past month mostly because of market worries
about dwindling inventories.
The following are highlights of the API monthly report on
U.S. crude oil production:
U.S. CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION
(in million bpd)
July 00 June 00 July 99 Year Pct
Change
Lower 48 4.891 4.871 4.808 1.7
Alaska .921 .960 .990 (7.0)
TOTAL 5.812 5.831 5.798 0.3
U.S. refineries ramped up production of petroleum products like gasoline and
distillate in July, processing a record 15.898 million barrels per day (bpd)
of crude oil, the American Petroleum Institute said on Wednesday. Refineries
operated at 96.0 percent of capacity, the highest utilization rate since
August 1998, the trade group said. Refineries "picked up the slack in
supplying the nation with petroleum products" in July, the API said in its
monthly petroleum report. There were increases in production of all major
petroleum products, with gasoline output at a record 8.329 million bpd and
distillate output up slightly from the month before to 3.532 million bpd. Jet
fuel production averaged 1.627 million bpd in July, up 5 percent from a year
earlier, and residual fuel production increased 2.7 percent from last year to
756,000 bpd. With strong refinery production of distillate during July,
distillate inventories -- which include heating oil and diesel fuel -- saw an
above-average build of 8 million barrels. However, distillate stocks remained
near the lower end of their historical range for July, the API said.
Distillate inventories in New England, the world's largest heating oil market,
stood at 4.8 million barrels at the end of July. That was down 60 percent from
the region's average end-of-July stock levels for the previous five years. The
trade group again pointed out that 90 percent of the home heating oil used in
winter is refined during the winter months. Distillate fuel deliveries, a key
indication of demand, was 3.296 million bpd, down 5.3 percent from last July.
It was the first drop in five months. However, the API said last month's
decline "misrepresents the underlying trend in distillate demand" because
deliveries in July 1999 were unusually high. A large 17 percent drop in demand
for high sulfur distillate, which is used for home heating fuel, drove the
July decline, the API said. U.S. deliveries of all petroleum products,
excluding exports, totaled 19.174 million bpd in July, down 3.3 percent from a
year ago. So far this year, petroleum demand is down 1.4 percent from the
first seven months of last year. Deliveries are calculated by API to reflect
petroleum products moved from refineries and bulk storage to wholesalers and
retailers. Crude oil inventories dropped by a large 8 million barrels during
July. The decrease reflected both the large amount of crude processed by
refineries and the decline in imports due to tight world oil supplies, API
said.
Other highlights of the API report are as follows:
U.S. DELIVERIES, IMPORTS, PRODUCTION
(in million bpd)
July00 June00 July99
U.S. deliveries 19.174 19.156 19.820
Petroleum exports .970 1.102 .918
Total U.S. deliveries 20.144 20.258 20.738
Gasoline deliveries 8.518 8.536 8.942
Distillate deliveries 3.296 3.537 3.479
Resid deliveries .866 .715 .753
Kerosine/jet deliveries 1.696 1.561 1.648
Other oil deliveries 4.944 4.961 5.260
Crude oil imports 9.075 8.845 9.391
Total petroleum imports 11.072 10.977 11.697
Crude production 5.812 5.831 5.798
Gasoline production 8.329 8.384 8.280
Distillate production 3.532 3.534 3.521
U.S. STOCKS
(in million barrels)
Crude stocks (exc SPR) 283.5 291.6 331.9
Gasoline stocks 206.6 207.7 204.4
RFG stocks 40.5 41.8 40.3
Distillate stocks 111.9 103.9-R 137.3
Residual fuel stocks 35.7 36.1 44.4
Kerosine/jet stocks 43.9 44.4 46.4
Other oil stocks 231.2 213.2-R 207.2
Total oil stocks 1,003.7 985.9-R 1,067.9
U.S. REFINERY UTILIZATION
(in percent)
Refinery utilization 96.0 95.2 94.9
CRUDE OIL FUTURES - 16AUG00
Open High Low Last Chg
Sep 3169 3190 3110 S3180 + 13
Oct 3102 3110 3046 S3098 + 02
Nov 3035 3049 3000 S3036 + 04
Dec 2960 2990 2950 S2979 + 05
Jan 2920 2927 2905 S2925 + 06
Feb 2863 2878 2855 S2874 + 08
Mar 2815 2830 2815 S2828 + 10
Apr 2769 2782 2769 S2784 + 12
May 2726 2738 2726 S2742 + 13
Jun 2690 2707 2690 S2705 + 13
Jul 0 0 0 S2672 + 13
HEATING OIL FUTURES - 16AUG00
Open High Low Last Chg
Sep 8660 8735 8560 S8688 + 37
Oct 8595 8700 8595 S8653 + 07
Nov 8630 8680 8590 S8648 + 12
Dec 8615 8670 8570 S8623 + 17
Jan 8530 8570 8495 S8548 + 32
Feb 8345 8400 8290 S8373 + 47
Mar 7905 7980 7905 S7953 + 62
Apr 7535 7600 7535 S7588 + 72
May 7300 7300 7220 S7283 + 62
UNLEADED GASOLINE FUTURES - 16AUG00
Open High Low Last Chg
Sep 9250 9315 9100 S9303 +112
Oct 8490 8570 8480 S8550 + 56
Nov 8175 8280 8175 S8260 + 49
Dec 8045 8090 8030 S8090 + 50
Jan 7960 8000 7935 S8000 + 43
Feb 7980 7980 7910 S7975 + 38
Mar 7995 7995 7910 S7990 + 38
Apr 0 0 0 S8460 + 38
NATURAL GAS FUTURES - 16AUG00
Open High Low Last Chg
Sep 4220 4435 4200 S4413 +179
Oct 4235 4435 4220 S4420 +181
Nov 4285 4490 4280 S4474 +175
Dec 4360 4550 4350 S4535 +162
Jan 4340 4520 4340 S4505 +152
Feb 4110 4255 4110 S4249 +129
Mar 3915 4020 3905 S4000 +105
Apr 3670 3775 3670 S3752 + 87
May 3595 3700 3595 S3662 + 73
Jun 3580 3680 3575 S3637 + 67
Jul 3560 3575 3560 S3612 + 62
Aug 3560 3560 3560 S3612 + 62
Sep 3550 3640 3550 S3592 + 62
Oct 3530 3600 3530 S3582 + 62
Nov 3637 3637 3637 S3677 + 60 |
