NEI Energy Markets Report, August 13-17, 2007

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

Generation outages, higher gas prices and hot temperatures contributed to the more than $15/MWh increase in electricity prices at the Palo Verde and SP15 hubs. PJM West and NEPOOL prices declined by more than $12/MWh and $30/MWh from the previous week after the recent heat wave receded in the region. Entergy and ERCOT modestly declined (see pages 1 and 3).

Gas prices at the Henry Hub increased $0.64 to $6.92/MMBtu (see pages 1 and 3). According to EIA, hot summer temperatures and tropical storm activity in the Atlantic last week resulted in further price increases. As of August 10, working gas in storage was 15 percent above the 5-year average inventory level.

UxConsulting’s uranium spot price fell to $90/lb U3O8 (see pages 1 and 3). UxC suggests that the continued decline in prices could be due to the seasonal nature of demand as well as strained existing budgets.

The estimated U.S. nuclear plant availability factor averaged 98% for the week. Browns Ferry 1 tripped due to a neutron monitoring trip signal. Due to warm river temperatures, Browns Ferry 2 was shut down to meet state limits on downriver water temperatures (see pages 2 and 4).

Crude oil prices fell for the first time since early June to $71.92/barrel as of 8/10/07. EIA speculates that the high oil prices in the beginning of the summer encouraged extra supply through increased imports and/or domestic production to drive prices down for the end of the summer (see pages 1 and 3).

For the week ending August 11, the Edison Electric Institute noted 96,955 GWh was the second highest output ever recorded. The week ending August 5, 2006 is the highest on record with an output of 98,583 GWh (see page 1).

For the report click here. It is also located on NEI's Financial Center webpage.