First Enercast Financial Daily Newsletter

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

• EIA report for week ending 07/11/08 : 2,312 Bcf
• EIA weekly change: +104 Bcf

• First Enercast Financial prediction for week ending 07/18/08 : 2395 Bcf
• First Enercast Financial predicted weekly change: +83 Bcf

• Smoke From Wildfires May Block Warming of Arctic, Study Says
  July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Smoke spreading across the sky from intense wildfires in North America could act temporarily to blunt the effect of global warming in the Arctic, climate researchers said. Full Story
  
• Tropical Storm Dolly - Intermediate Advisory
  At 4AM CDT, Tropical Storm Dolly was located near 23.3N/93.8W, or about 295 miles southeast of Brownsville, TX. Movement is to the west to west-northwest near 10 to Full Story
  
• TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK
  FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC...CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO... THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER IS ISSUING ADVISORIES ON TROPICAL STORM CRISTOBAL...CENTERED ABOUT 450 MILES SOUTH- Full Story
  
• WxRisk Weather Alert
  The 0Z euro and 0z GFS are in EXCELLENT agreement in the 6-10 and in FAIR agreement in the 11-15 day . DOLLY POSES NO THREAT TO CENTRAL AND UPPER TX Full Story
  
• Tropical Storm Dolly Strengthens Over Gulf of Mexico
  July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Dolly strengthened over the Gulf of Mexico and may become a hurricane before making landfall in the next day near the Texas-Mexico border, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Full Story
  

• Blame oil speculators?
  Are speculators contributing to higher oil prices? Sure, to some degree. How much? God only knows. Full Story
  
• Pickens sees $300 oil unless U.S. cuts crude imports
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Oil prices will hit $300 a barrel in 10 years if the United States fails to reduce its dependence on foreign imports, billionaire oil investor T. Boone Pickens told U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday. Full Story
  
• DJ CHARTING MONEY: Back To The Futures...And To The Wall
  NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--A correction of the long-term commodity futures price bull market is happening, and now the work begins. Full Story
  
• Nymex Oil Interest Shrinks as Senate Pushes to Curb Speculation
  July 22 (Bloomberg) -- The number of outstanding crude oil futures in New York fell to the lowest in 17 months as oil companies, refiners and institutional investors exited the market and U.S. politicians pushed for laws to curb speculation. Full Story
  
• China's demand UP 6.5%
  China's apparent oil demand rose 6.5% in June after an increase in state-set fuel prices persuaded refiners to end shortages that had stifled consumption, and as energy Full Story
  

• Speculators not behind oil rise - US task force
  WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) - A U.S. government interagency task force has found that the huge jump in oil prices is due to "supply and demand factors" and that speculators are not to blame for high fuel costs, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Tuesday. Full Story
  
• Pickens Urges Congress to Replace Oil With Wind
  July 22 (Bloomberg) -- T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire hedge-fund manager, told a U.S. Senate panel that dependence on imported oil threatens national security, and he urged Congress to pass tax breaks to support his plan to build wind farms. Full Story
  
• Dolly Shuts in 4.7% of Oil Production in U.S. Gulf, MMS Says
  July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Oil producers shut about 4.7 percent of production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, as they evacuated personnel from 49 platforms and six rigs in preparation for Tropical Storm Dolly. Full Story
  
• Senate Clears First Hurdle for Oil Speculation Bill
  July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Democrats cleared the first hurdle for legislation that aims to curb speculation in energy markets, winning unanimous support to proceed to debate on the measure responding to record prices. Full Story
  
• Nigeria army blames govt-backed militants for deaths
  PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, July 22 (Reuters) - The Nigerian army on Tuesday accused local politicians of backing gunmen who killed a group of soldiers and civilians last week in the Niger Delta, where crime and violence have seriously hit oil output. Full Story
  

• US GAS: Futures Fall As Hurricane Threat Lessens
  NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Natural gas futures fell Tuesday to their lowest levels since mid-April, as concerns faded over Tropical Storm Dolly posing a major threat to energy infrastructure in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Full Story
  
• OIL FUTURES: Crude Down As Storm's Impact Seen Minimal
  NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Nymex crude futures were pushed lower Tuesday by evaporating fears over the course of Tropical Storm Dolly and a stronger greenback. Full Story
  
• Oil Falls to 6-Week Low as Storm May Miss Fields, Dollar Rises
  July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell more than $3 a barrel, dropping to a six-week low, on forecasts a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico will miss oil installations and the dollar rebounded against the euro, reducing the appeal of commodities. Full Story
  

• Chevron: "Minimal" US Gulf production shut due Dolly
  HOUSTON, July 22 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp (CVX.N) said a minimal amount of its production in the western U.S. Gulf of Mexico had been shut as of Tuesday afternoon due to Tropical Storm Dolly. Full Story
  
• BP Settles Claims, Ends Texas Refinery Blast Trial
  July 22 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Europe's second-biggest oil company, again avoided a jury verdict over a deadly 2005 explosion at its Texas refinery by settling claims of four injured workers before all evidence could be presented in their cases. Full Story
  
• Failed oil hedges sink energy trader SemGroup LP
  NEW YORK, July 22 (Reuters) - Energy trader SemGroup LP filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday after a failed oil hedging strategy left the fast-growing firm short of cash, its publicly traded unit, SemGroup Energy Partners LP (SGLP.O), said in a regulatory filing. Full Story
  
• XTO 2nd-qtr earnings rise 33 pct
  NEW YORK, July 22 (Reuters) - XTO Energy Inc (XTO.N) on Tuesday said second-quarter earnings rose 33 percent on higher production and natural gas prices. Full Story
  
• Anadarko shuts production in Gulf ahead of Dolly
  HOUSTON, July 22 (Reuters) - Anadarko Petroleum Corp (APC.N) has shut the equivalent of 30,000 barrels of oil in production from western Gulf of Mexico platforms ahead of Tropical Storm Dolly, the company said Tuesday. Full Story
  
• Exxon Starts Evacuating Workers From Gulf of Mexico Platforms
  July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's biggest energy company, started removing workers from oil and gas wells in the Gulf of Mexico before the arrival of Tropical Storm Dolly, the company said. Full Story
  
• Baker Hughes Profit Beats Expectations on Record Oil
  July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Baker Hughes Inc., the world's third-largest oilfield-services provider, said second-quarter profit rose, exceeding analyst estimates, as customers flush with cash from record oil prices increased spending. Full Story
  
• Halliburton Profit Drops 67% After 2007 Gain From KBR
  July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Halliburton Co., the world's second- largest oilfield-services provider, said net income dropped 67 percent after the sale of the company's stake in engineering unit KBR inflated 2007 earnings. Full Story
  

• Tropical Storm Dolly
  By Steve Smith
  Tropical Storm Dolly made a brief pass over the Yucatan Peninsula Monday morning and emerged into the western Gulf of Mexico largely unscathed by its passage over land. Since then, Dolly has been tracking just north of due west and has begun to organize itself better, with the storm beginning to form an eyewall. Dolly is sitting just Full Story
  
• EIA Discussion for Week Ending July 18th, 2008
  By Ben Smith
  First Enercast Financial is predicting an injection of 83 Bcf for this weeks EIA release, bringing total storage to around 2,395 BCF. We are expecting another above average storage injection this week as demand has been tempered by moderate weather Full Story
  
• The Energy Report for Tuesday, July 22, 2008
  By Phil Flynn
  Dolly drizzle and fizzle. Tropical storm Dolly has put a damper on the hopes for a huge follow through sell off as the storm is a reminder that hurricane season is indeed Full Story