EPA move on sulfur dioxide affects NG prices
The agency said that the new standard, adopted under the Clean Air Act, would prevent 2,300 to 5,900 premature deaths and 54,000 asthma attacks a year.
Sulfur dioxide is a major element of exhaust from coal-burning power plants and a component of acid rain. It has been linked to many breathing problems, including asthma, emphysema and bronchitis. The new rule calls for concentrations of no more than 75 parts per billion of sulfur dioxide, measured hourly. The current standard is 140 parts per billion, averaged over 24 hours.
Some power plants have been using more natural gas, instead of coal, to run generators because gas burns cleaner, with lower emissions.
Natural gas futures rose 26.6 cents to close at $4.69 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange recently.
Natural gas producers were among the biggest gainers in an otherwise lackluster trading day.
Fort Worth-based Quicksilver Resources and Range Resources both saw their shares jump more than 6 percent, as did Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy. Union Drilling of Fort Worth, which is active in shale gas development, saw its shares rise more than 4 percent.
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"It's freakishly cold": Deep freeze slams American energy sector
CALGARY - A deep freeze is roiling electricity markets in more than a dozen U.S. states, leading to record-setting prices for electricity and natural gas, knocking oil production off line and shutting down some of North America’s largest refineries.
“It’s freakishly cold,” said Eric Fell, a senior natural gas analyst with Wood Mackenzie in Houston, where record cold temperatures and snow have blanketed the city, caused rolling power outages, shut down refineries and sent both natural gas and electricity prices soaring.
'It’s freakishly cold': Deep freeze slams North American energy sector
The polar vortex has led to freezing temperatures in…
