NEI Energy Markets Report (October 8-12, 2012)

Here's a snippet of what went on in the energy markets last week:

Electricity peak prices rose slightly last week at ERCOT and Palo Verde, averaging $32-34/MWh at those hubs. Meanwhile at the Northeast, PJM, and Southwest hubs, prices fell $2, $6, and $11, respectively, to average $38-39/MWh. Gas at the Henry Hub rose 12 cents during the week, averaging $3.38/MMBtu. “Faced with softening fall demand fundamentals, power prices for next day delivery worked mostly lower across the U.S. on Thursday, Oct. 11, even as traders looked to rising natural gas prices and climbing outages. ... Cash gas markets also worked higher, adding as much as 15 cents in parts of the West and as much as 25 cents in the East, which offered direct support to power markets. Also lending support, various generating units continue to drop offline, and the outages will accelerate in the coming weeks as units shutter operations for fall maintenance and refueling. ... Several more outages lie around the corner. According to private sources, five nuclear reactors could shut in the next week: SCANA Corp.'s V.C. Summer in South Carolina, Nebraska Public Power District's Cooper plant in Nebraska, Public Service Enterprise Group Inc.'s Salem 2 in New Jersey, Exelon Corp.'s Braidwood 2 in Illinois and Entergy Corp.'s Waterford 3 in Louisiana.” (SNL Energy’s Power Daily – 10/12/12)

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Last week’s uranium spot prices were unchanged, according to Ux Consulting, but TradeTech reported a $2.25 drop to an average $43.50/lb U3O8. “Bearish sentiment gripped the spot uranium market this week and the spot uranium price fell dramatically, losing more than 5 percent over the course of this week. Seven transactions totaling approximately 800 thousand pounds U3O8 are reported for the week. Reasons for the bearish outlook among sellers are varied, but the driving force is clearly a pessimistic view about near-term spot demand from both discretionary and ‘have-to’ buyers. The drop in prices failed to stimulate significant buying interest, and instead caused buyers to pull away from the market in anticipation of further price declines.” (TradeTech’s Nuclear Market Review – 10/12/12)

For more of the report click here.