Natural Gas Prices Soar
At the time we went to press with this issue in January, an oil workers strike in Venezuela, uncertainty in the Middle East and cold weather here at home had caused heating oil prices to rise substantially over what they had been in the summer and fall of 2002. Despite what you may think, Hart & Iliff dislikes high oil prices even more than you do. Regardless of whether we sell oil at 80¢ per gallon or $1.40 per gallon, the margin we make on each gallon is still the same.While high prices are never a good thing, the oil-heating industry is not the only industry dealing with high winter energy prices. According to the government’s Energy Information Administration, winter natural gas prices were expected to be 60% higher than the year before. The following excerpts are from articles that appeared in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times discussing winter natural gas prices. The Wall Street Journal; December 11, 2002
"Colder-than-normal weather has eroded the nation’s cushion of natural gas inventories, which may mean already robust prices could go even higher during the peak heating months still ahead. Utilities across the country have already been warning customers that higher prices are likely this winter....The government’s Energy Information Administration warned in its short term forecast late Monday that gas prices are poised to rise through January and February unless there is a ‘profound turnabout’ in the weather. The agency predicts gas prices this winter will average about 60% higher than last year." The New York Times; December 19, 2002
"That natural gas prices have risen 40% in the last month seems normal at first glance. It is winter, after all, and a large portion of the country heats with gas. But industry executives and analysts say that natural gas prices at today’s levels, more than $5 per million British thermal units, underscore a fundamental shift towards consistently higher prices. As higher prices are becoming the norm, some analysts worry that they may exact a big toll on the economy, especially with the current recovery so tepid."
Related Article: Hart & Iliff Price Protection Programs Reduce Winter Heating Costs
