Skip to main content

NEI's Energy Markets Report - October 22 - 26, 2007

By
Here's a summary of what went on in the energy markets last week:
Electricity peak prices at the listed hubs below decreased about $4-15/MWh except for Palo Verde and SP 15. Cooler temperatures played a role in falling prices at the Eastern and ERCOT hubs. Four out of seven nuclear reactors in the Western region were down for most of the week which contributed to moderate price increases at the SP 15 and Palo Verde hubs (Platts, see pages 1 and 3).

Gas prices at the Henry Hub fell from $6.92/MMBtu to $6.55/MMBtu. Moderate weather is considered the cause for declining gas prices for the week (EIA). Gas futures also fell $0.33 to $7.01/MMBtu for November (see pages 1, 2 and 3).

NOx allowance prices fell $100 to $770/ton last week (see pages 1 and 3).

Estimated nuclear plant availability slipped from 83 to 82 percent last week with two reactors beginning and three reactors finishing refueling outages. Palo Verde 1 was offline to repair an auxiliary feedwater pump (see pages 2 and 4).

Uranium spot prices rose to $84 and $85/lb U3O8 according to TradeTech and UxConsulting. “Several new buyers have returned to the (uranium) market over the past couple of weeks, further signifying the belief that the spot market has hit its near-term bottom” (UxC). U3O8 prices have risen $10 over the past four weeks from a low of $75/lb U3O8 (see pages 1 and 3).

Crude oil prices rose to $87.80/barrel last week. For perspective, the cost of crude oil imports in 1980 (the highest year so far) was $84.40/barrel after adjusting for inflation to preliminary 2007 dollars using the Consumer Price Index (see pages 1 and 3).
For the report click here. It is also located on NEI's Financial Center webpage.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fluor Invests in NuScale

By
You know, it’s kind of sad that no one is willing to invest in nuclear energy anymore. Wait, what? NuScale Power celebrated the news of its company-saving $30 million investment from Fluor Corp. Thursday morning with a press conference in Washington, D.C. Fluor is a design, engineering and construction company involved with some 20 plants in the 70s and 80s, but it has not held interest in a nuclear energy company until now. Fluor, which has deep roots in the nuclear industry, is betting big on small-scale nuclear energy with its NuScale investment. "It's become a serious contender in the last decade or so," John Hopkins, [Fluor’s group president in charge of new ventures], said. And that brings us to NuScale, which had run into some dark days – maybe not as dark as, say, Solyndra, but dire enough : Earlier this year, the Securities Exchange Commission filed an action against NuScale's lead investor, The Michael Kenwood Group. The firm "misap...
1 comment
Read more

Wednesday Update

By
From NEI’s Japan micro-site: NRC, Industry Concur on Many Post-Fukushima Actions Industry/Regulatory/Political Issues • There is a “great deal of alignment” between the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the industry on initial steps to take at America’s nuclear energy facilities in response to the nuclear accident in Japan, Charles Pardee, the chief operating officer of Exelon Generation Co., said at an agency briefing today. The briefing gave stakeholders an opportunity to discuss staff recommendations for near-term actions the agency may take at U.S. facilities. PowerPoint slides from the meeting are on the NRC website. • The International Atomic Energy Agency board has approved a plan that calls for inspectors to evaluate reactor safety at nuclear energy facilities every three years. Governments may opt out of having their country’s facilities inspected. Also approved were plans to maintain a rapid response team of experts ready to assist facility operators recoverin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nuclear Utility Moves Up in Credit Ratings, Bank is "Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy"

By
Some positive signs that nuclear utilities can continue to receive positive ratings even while they finance new nuclear plants for the first time in decades: Wells Fargo upgrades SCANA to Outperform from Market Perform Wells analyst says, "YTD, SCG shares have underperformed the Regulated Electrics (total return +2% vs. +9%). Shares trade at 11.3X our 10E EPS, a modest discount to the peer group median of 11.8X. We view the valuation as attractive given a comparatively constructive regulatory environment and potential for above-average long-term EPS growth prospects ... Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy. SCG plans to participate in the development of two regulated nuclear units at a cost of $6.3B, raising legitimate concerns regarding financing and construction. We have carefully considered the risks and are comfortable with SCG’s strategy based on a highly constructive political & regulatory environment, manageable financing needs stretched out over 10 years, strong partners...
Post a Comment
Read more