HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Business

Oct. 16, 2001, 10:02PM

Gas price jumps after prediction of one of coldest winters in years

Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle News Services

NEW YORK -- Natural gas futures rose 9 percent Tuesday, its biggest gain in two months, after a forecast that colder-than-normal weather this winter will boost demand for heating fuels.

This winter will rank among the coldest in more than a century, Salomon Smith Barney meteorologist Jon Davis said in a report. Prices soared to a record last year during the coldest November-December since the weather service began tracking temperatures in 1895.

Natural gas futures rose 21.4 cents at $2.592 per thousand cubic feet, its highest closing price since Aug. 24. Prices still are down 74 percent this year as inventories climbed at a record pace. This year's slowing economy has reduced the fuel's use by manufacturers, which account for a quarter of U.S. gas consumption.

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 17, 2001

Answers

The question is: will this year's prices reach last year's given they are down 74%?

-- John Littmann (johntl@mtn.org), October 17, 2001.

What gives? Same source, opposite conclusion, one day later.

Is there a reference URL available for the "coldest winter in history" prediction? In Southern California, it feels quite plausible, but this is hardly a 'typical' region of North America.

Hyperlink: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/business/1094382

Oct. 17, 2001, 11:08PM

Slack demand fears mug energy futures

NEW YORK -- Crude oil futures fell moderately Wednesday at the New York Mercantile Exchange amid renewed fears of slumping demand. November crude fell 19 cents to $21.81; November heating oil fell 0.57 cents to 62.10 a gallon; November gasoline fell a penny to 58.02 cents a gallon. November natural gas fell 17.4 cents to $2.418 per thousand cubic feet. Brent crude fell 37 cents to $20.99 in London.

Copyright, Houston Chronicle, Fair Use for Education and Research Only

-- Robert Riggs (rxr.999@worldnet.att.net), October 18, 2001.

I suggest mucking around the following site and making up your own mind.

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/90day/fxus05.html

Sounds a bit like the fox guarding the henhouse - Salomon Smith Barney meteorologist predicting things that will make his employer money ?

Naw - never happened.

-- xrb (xraybob@yahoo.com), October 18, 2001.