Natural Gas Surges on Electricity Demand
July 31, 2006
Surging U.S. electricity demand Monday sent natural gas prices rocketing to a record high of $8.211 per million Btu.
The commodity, which rose more than $1 during the session, supplies about 18 percent of the nation’s electricity, demand for which has been at record levels for several days.
MarketWatch said natural gas is up 35 percent this month.
Meanwhile, a Russian crude oil pipeline leak Monday hiked oil prices $1.16 on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $74.40 per barrel.
Heating oil gained about 3 cents to close at $1.9679 per gallon and Nymex gasoline was flat at $2.235 per gallon. AAA said early Monday that the average U.S. retail price of regular gasoline was $3.005 per gallon.