So, based on the NYMEX figures for this week, what do you expect to see next week?

There are two ways to read this week’s overall rise in NYMEX prices. Either:

Fundamentals are kicking in, and the gradual winter price rise is taking effect. This means you would expect the rise to continue next week.

Market forces are in effect, and this is typical end of the month behavior. Traders who sold short (when you sell short, you effectively sell a block of a commodity, and agree to buy it back within a certain timeframe. You’re waiting for the price to fall, so you can buy it back…cover your short…at a lower price and make a profit. Wait too long, like right up to the end of the month, and you have to buy back at the best price you can get) are doing some last-minute shopping, and that’s driving up the price. This means you would expect the overall downward trend to resume next week.

What this means to you. Following the natural gas market can seem like a game sometimes, and in 2009 too many people treated the markets like a game. But behind this game is a very serious matter: the cost for you electricity, your heat, your hot water, and your power. Cost Containment Intl. knows that there’s more to a successful energy strategy than following the market, and we’re dead serious about saving you money in 2009.

A few words from Robert Burns to end the year

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o’ lang syne ?

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere !
And gie’s a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
For auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

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As we approach the end of 2008, we take a moment to look back at the past year.

It certainly has been an interesting year, although not necessarily one we would like to repeat. You all know where we started and certainly where we will end up, so I thought you might like to know some interesting facts about Natural Gas and where it came from. Don’t worry, I’m not going back as far as Tyrannosaurus Rex – well not quite as far anyway.

Natural gas is nothing new. In fact, most of the natural gas that is brought out from under the ground is millions of years old. However, it was not until recently that methods for obtaining this gas, bringing it to the surface, and putting it to use were developed.

Before there was an understanding of what natural gas was, it posed somewhat of a mystery to man. Sometimes, such things as lightning strikes would ignite natural gas that was escaping from under the earth’s crust. This would create a fire coming from the earth, burning the natural gas as it seeped out from underground. These fires puzzled most early civilizations, and were the root of much myth and superstition.

One of the most famous of these types of flames was found in ancient Greece, on Mount Parnassus approximately 1,000 B.C. A goat herdsman came across what looked like a ‘burning spring’, a flame rising from a fissure in the rock. The Greeks, believing it to be of divine origin, built a temple on the flame. This temple housed a priestess who was known as the Oracle of Delphi, giving out prophecies she claimed were inspired by the flame.

These types of springs became prominent in the religions of India, Greece, and Persia. Unable to explain where these fires came from, they were often regarded as divine, or supernatural. It wasn’t until about 500 B.C. that the Chinese discovered the potential to use these fires to their advantage. Finding places where gas was seeping to the surface, the Chinese formed crude pipelines out of bamboo shoots to transport the gas, where it was used to boil sea water, separating the salt and making it drinkable.

Britain was the first country to commercialize the use of natural gas. Around 1785, natural gas produced from coal was used to light houses, as well as streetlights. Manufactured natural gas of this type (as opposed to naturally occurring gas) was first brought to the United States in 1816, when it was used to light the streets of Baltimore, Maryland. However, this manufactured gas was much less efficient and environmentally friendly than modern natural gas that comes from underground.

Naturally occurring natural gas was discovered and identified in America as early as 1626, when French explorers discovered natives igniting gases that were seeping into and around Lake Erie. The American natural gas industry got its beginnings in this area. In 1859, Colonel Edwin Drake (a former railroad conductor who adopted the title ‘Colonel’ to impress the townspeople) dug the first well. Drake hit oil and natural gas at 69 feet below the surface of the earth.

The big question seems to be, how much natural gas is still down there. Can you guess?

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