Heating oil

EIA Invites Comments on Information Needed to Support Its Energy and Financial Markets Initiative

January 27, 2010 -- The Energy Information Administration (EIA) is seeking comments and recommendations on information needed to support analysis and increased understanding of energy markets, in support of the Energy and Financial Markets Initiative announced on September 9, 2009. A notice appeared today in the Federal Register describing topics of particular interest, as well as procedures for public comment over the next 60 days. The notice does not itself propose new EIA information collection.    » read more »

Fuel Ethanol Margins: 2009 Update

January 21, 2010 -- The November 26, 2008, edition of This Week In Petroleum looked at profit margins for the dry mill fuel ethanol industry, pointing out the boom-and-bust cycles that had occurred. In 2009, ethanol producers’ margins continued to fluctuate as shown in Figure 1.

The variable cost margin plotted in Figure 1 (“Ethanol Margin”) represents the difference between Chicago spot prices for ethanol (revenue) and the variable cost inputs of production, converted to their ethanol price equivalent in cents per gallon. It is sometimes referred to as the “producers’ margin”.1    » read more »

Pennsylvania to receive $26,205,777

January 20, 2010 -- WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) applauded the decision today by the Department of Health and Human Services to release $490 million in Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds. Pennsylvania will receive $26,205,777.

Earlier this month, Senator Casey urged President Obama to release the emergency funding in a letter he sent with a bipartisan group of senators.    » read more »

Monthly OPEC Surplus Oil Production Capacity Data Now Available

January 13, 2010 -- With the release of the January 2010 Short-Term Energy Outlook, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) extended its published monthly data series for surplus crude oil production capacity for members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) back to 1991 (see figure below).

This is a frequently requested data series, because surplus production capacity is a key factor in understanding oil market trends and in forecasting world oil prices. Low and falling surplus production capacity generally characterizes a tight market and firming prices, while a high and rising level of surplus production capacity may signal a loose market balance and weakening prices.    » read more »

New Tax Credits and Low Interest Loans

December 15, 2009 -- Washington, DC - With dropping temperatures and rising energy costs, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand helped secure $5.1 billion for the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP).

This matches last year's investment - the largest amount of funding Congress has ever allocated to help seniors and low-income families heat their homes during the winter months. Senator Gillibrand is also introducing new legislation to provide low interest loans and tax credits to help cover the costs of energy, as well as providing a guidebook for families and businesses to help navigate federal grant programs and take advantage of funding available to heat and weatherize homes, schools and businesses.    » read more »

The Changing Structure of the U.S. Refining Industry

December 2, 2009 -- No major new refineries have been built in the United States since the 1970s, but that does not mean that U.S. refinery capacity has not grown. Refiners can increase capacity at existing sites by modifying equipment to increase product flow and by adding new distillation units.

Consequently, though U.S. crude oil distillation capacity declined in the early 1980s, it has risen since the mid-1990s (Figure 1) due to these kinds of investments. From 1997 to 2009, total U.S. refining capacity increased by 14 percent, with the average annual capacity increase of about 185 thousand barrels per day (Mbbl/d) over this period, equivalent to adding one and a half average-sized refineries each year.    » read more »

Pressures on Fuel Ethanol Production Capacity

November 18, 2009 -- Capacity to produce fuel ethanol from corn nearly tripled between January 2006 and January 2009. However, over the past 18 months, a combination of surplus production capacity, the decline of gasoline prices from their mid-2008 peak level, and high corn prices that boosted producers’ input costs have resulted in a sharp decline in ethanol margins. The combination of economic pressures on capacity led some producers to idle plants, and in some cases, file for bankruptcy.    » read more »

Saudi Aramco Announces New U.S. Pricing Formula

November 12, 2009 -- The U.S. imported slightly more than 1 million barrels of crude oil per day from Saudi Arabia during the first 8 months of 2009. Despite a decline of more than 33 percent compared to the same period in 2008, Saudi Arabia was still the third largest source of U.S. crude oil imports during the first 8 months of this year, according to EIA import data.    » read more »

Tracking Volatile Energy Prices

Energy prices are volatile. They change as market participants adjust their expectations to new information from physical energy markets and markets for energy-related financial derivatives. Futures and options markets are a valuable source of information regarding these changing expectations.    » read more »

Winter Fuels: How Inventories are Stacking Up

September 30, 2009 -- One of the critical factors energy analysts focus on each fall, ahead of the rise in demand for heating fuels, is the pre-winter build-up of fuel inventories. This year, inventories are unusually high for all winter fuels, including distillates (which includes heating oil), natural gas, propane, and coal used for electricity generation.

Current high inventories stem primarily from the recession. As the economic downturn deepened throughout 2008 and 2009, energy demand fell, but supply was relatively slow to respond. As a result, stocks of many fuels were pushed well above typical historical levels.    » read more »

September 16, 2009 -- There's a good chance you've been hearing more about biodiesel lately. This article, the first of several short discussions about biodiesel that will appear in the next few months, lays out some of the basic terminology and qualities associated with this fuel. It also begins to illustrate important factors that vary among biodiesel fuels and fuel blends with petroleum diesel - variations that require fuel suppliers to make adjustments in order to ensure that these fuels perform well.    » read more »

June 3, 2009 -- Every year, typically in the first quarter, EIA releases its Annual Energy Outlook, which provides projections and analyses of U.S. energy supply, demand, and prices through the next 20 to 25 years. The projections are based on results from the EIA’s National Energy Modeling System and include a reference case, plus numerous additional cases examining factors impacting energy markets, and complete documentation.

The reference case is widely used by policy analysts, decision makers, and other energy analysts as a starting point for examining proposed energy and environmental legislation.    » read more »

Renewable Fuels Changes to EIA's Petroleum Surveys

May 28, 2009 -- EIA has recently implemented expanded data collection efforts to better capture ethanol, biodiesel, and other renewable liquid fuel volumes, marking an important milestone in a multi-year effort to address the growing role of renewable fuels. Congress enacted a mandate for the increased use of renewable motor fuels in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. That same law also authorized EIA to collect better data on renewable fuels.

The need for better renewable fuels data became even more important when the mandate for renewable fuel use was significantly expanded by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which sets a target of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel use by 2022.    » read more »

Springtime Transitions

May is a time of transition as days get warmer, swimming pools open, and new graduates get ready to head out into the world. It is also a time of transition for U.S. fuel markets, as gasoline suppliers prepare for summer driving. This year, May has already brought back the traditional—but lapsed—spring transition in which the average price of regular gasoline in the United States rises above the price of diesel fuel.

U.S. Retail Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Prices    » read more »

Surplus Oil Production Capacity and World Oil Prices

May 13, 2009 -- Last month the National Football League (NFL) held its annual draft. Prior to making their selections, NFL teams evaluated the talent pool by looking at the overall performance each player delivered for his college team, and at specific indicators, such as their time in a 40-yard dash or how much they can bench press, to determine which players might be the best draft picks. In trying to forecast short-term oil prices, it is also important to consider recent market trends along with a range of more specific factors to really understand the total picture.    » read more »