The NEI Afternoon Clip File

Here are some of the news clips we're reading at NEI this afternoon. Oil prices are still making headlines today, after climbing to a new high over $64 a barrel and then easing a bit:

The market was still on watch for potential terrorist threats in Saudi Arabia and concerned over refinery outages in the United States, but it is not unusual for traders to take some money off the table after prices hit new heights.

Some analysts said the run-up in prices in recent days has been driven more by speculation and political concerns than by actual changes in supply and demand.

"The market is behaving rather unusually. It has been focusing on the same reasons in the past few days, selecting the bullish news while ignoring fundamental supply data to drive the market up," said energy analyst Victor Shum at Texas-based Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.

Reuters also weighed in on the issue, noting that the exact record-high price was $64.27 and offering a prediction:

"The market has given its verdict: it's going to be above $60 for quite a long time," said Kevin Norrish of Barclays Capital.

In other news, China is expected to see a balance of electricity supply and demand with somewhat of a surplus, according to Wang Yonggan, secretary general of China Electricity Council.

According to Wang, China saw a newly installed power capacity of over 50 million kilowatts in 2004, and the figure will remain at 70 million kw annually from 2005 to 2007.

By the end of 2007, China will boast an installed power capacity of 650 million kw, by which time the electricity supply and demand of the country will be basically balanced, and will even have some surpluses, said Wang.

China is the second largest installed power capacity owner and the second largest power generator in the world next to the U.S., said Wang.

An annual installed power capacity of 70 million kw means an annual investment of nearly 350 billion yuan (43.2 billion US dollars). China has become one of the largest power markets in the world, he said.

Come back tomorrow morning for more news from the NEI Clip File.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Environment, Energy, Politics, Technology, Economics

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