Daily Updates
Natural gas plunges 15 percent this month
By CHRIS KAHN
AP Energy Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Natural gas prices have dropped by more than 15 percent in the past month as the country continues to sip at its energy reserves and a balmy November allowed many homeowners to leave the heat off.
Retail prices for natural gas, or what many consumers will pay to heat their homes, are expected to be substantially lower this year.
Spot prices for natural gas have dropped to almost half of what they were last year, though they’ve increased slightly this month, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The recession has kept natural gas demand low most of the year. With manufacturers shuttering factories and closing offices, the country is using less electricity power plants are burning less natural gas.
Analyst Stephen Schork noted that with industrial production still weak, home heating would be the primary source of natural gas demand for the rest of the year.
“What does that say about the current recovery, or lack thereof?” Schork said in a research note.
The U.S. has added more natural gas into storage every week since March 27, and there is now more natural gas tucked away in the U.S. than at any point in history. Storage houses are crammed beyond their listed capacity in the West on the Gulf of Mexico, and they’re nearing capacity elsewhere, according to data from the Department of Energy.
With so much in storage, natural gas futures prices have plunged on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The December contract fell from $5.045 to $4.343 per 1,000 cubic feet between Oct. 30 to Friday.
Benchmark crude also dropped Friday, giving up $1.06 to $76.40 a barrel on the last trading day for the December contract. Crude prices for January delivery lost 99 cents to $77.06.
At the pump, retail gas prices increased for the third straight day, adding less than a penny overnight to a new national average of $2.642 a gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular unleaded is 4.6 cents more expensive than last month and 62.2 cents more expensive than the same time last year, when prices were in free fall.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil fell 3.29 cents to $1.9635 a gallon. Gasoline for December delivery dropped 1.19 cents to $1.9576 a gallon.
In London, Brent crude for December delivery fell 84 cents to $76.80 on the ICE Futures exchange.
————
Associated Press Writers Barry Hatton in Portugal and Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.
- Daily Updates
-
-
Fargo residents learn from mistakes in flood fight
Before this flood season, officials in Fargo asked homeowners to clear paths in their yards so that firm and straight walls of sandbags could be placed to protect their homes. One resident cut down his tree. Another went so far to use a torch to melt the ice off his ground.
-
Medical marijuana a frequent target for criminals
Patients, growers and clinics in some of the 14 states that allow medical marijuana are falling victim to robberies, home invasions, shootings and even murders at the hands of pot thieves.
-
Pa. suspect is rare US woman facing terror trial
If the woman dubbed “Jihad Jane” goes on trial, she would become just the second American woman tried on U.S. soil on terrorism charges — and the first accused of directly working toward a Muslim holy war.
-
Md. lawmakers not feeling so Southern anymore
Maryland’s official song may include a line about “Northern scum” left over from the Civil War era, but the state isn’t feeling so Southern anymore.
-
SC gov agrees to pay ethics fine, gets divorced
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has closed two chapters of his life, agreeing to pay $74,000 in fines to resolve ethics charges brought against him after last summer’s revelation of an extramarital affair, and receiving word that a judge had formally ended his 20-year marriage to his wife, Jenny.
-
Doctor says heart groups too cozy with industry
A prominent cardiologist accused leading heart organizations of being too cozy with industry and allowing those ties to influence its policies and education programs for doctors.
-
Woman hit with rock in car dies
Authorities say a South Carolina woman initially left in critical condition after she was struck by a rock that flew through her windshield when a pickup truck hit a pothole along Interstate 20 near the Alabama-Georgia line Monday has died.
-
PepsiCo cuts sugary drinks from schools worldwide
PepsiCo plans to remove sugary drinks from schools worldwide, following the success of programs in the U.S. aimed at cutting down on childhood obesity.
-
Woods will return to golf at Masters on April 8
For Tiger Woods, this figures to be a Masters like no other.
-
Ivy League’s Cornell responds to 3 gorge deaths
Cornell University, an Ivy League school known for its spectacular gorges and haunted by a reputation for suicides, took the extraordinary step of posting lookouts on bridges and going door-to-door to check on students after three undergrads plunged to their deaths in the past month.
- More Daily Updates Headlines
-
Fargo residents learn from mistakes in flood fight
