Gas up again 3.5% to $8.19Market futures are all pointing up at the open this morning with the positive overnight financial news. Looks to be a positive day for a change. Renewed confidence in the market will spur large gains for many oversold stocks. Especially energy plays as the price of the commodities have gone much higher recently while the SP's have declined due to one factor, market jitters.
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IEA Says U.S. Natural Gas Price to Average $10 This Year
By Ben Farey
Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The International Energy Agency, an adviser to oil and gas consuming nations, said U.S. natural-gas prices will average $10 a million British thermal units this year.
``A number of factors, including higher oil prices, weather conditions and supply and demand imbalance, all played a role during the price increases in the past 18 months,'' the IEA said in its Natural Gas Market Review 2008. U.S. natural-gas prices have fallen to about $8 a million Btus from more than $13 a million Btus in July.
Spare liquefied natural gas cargoes cost more than $15 a million Btus in the Pacific, the IEA added.
``Flexible liquefied natural gas (spot and short-term) played a greater role in inter-regional market balancing in 2007 and into 2008,'' said Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the IEA, in an e-mailed statement.
IEA countries will import more expensive gas from further afield, the report said. The agency sees insufficient investment ``particularly in the years beyond 2010.'' LNG production project delays threaten security of supply, it added.