Predictions for the Price of Fossil Fuels for the Next Year

Oil prices eased Wednesday(April 7th) on a report showing crude inventories grew more than expected last week and that supplies of gasoline were still well above average.

Benchmark crude for May delivery fell 37 cents to $86.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 22 cents to settle at $86.84 on Tuesday after hitting an 18-month high of $87.09 a barrel.
Oil might be due for a break. Crude prices have jumped from $69 in early February on signs that the global economy is gaining strength and demand for gasoline and diesel fuel will rise.

Retail gasoline prices have moved up to highs last seen in October 2008.
Over the past four weeks, gasoline demand has averaged 9 million barrels per day, an increase of 1.7 percent from a year ago. Demand for distillate fuel used for heating oil and diesel fuel has been flat and jet fuel demand is off 3.7 percent.
The U. S. Energy Information Administration(EIA) has released it’s short term energy outlook this April. No surprise to anyone prices are going to go up.
The price for crude oil is expected to be $81 dollars a barrel on average and by the 4th quarter of 2011 $85 dollars a barrel.
The price of gasoline is expected to be $2.92/gal.during this summer’s driving season(April 1st-September 1st). Note sometimes during the summer the price of gasoline will be over $3.00/gal. Already seen $3.00 in some areas for a short time.The price of gasoline in 2011 is expected to be $2.96/gal.
Projected annual average retail diesel fuel prices are forecast at $2.95 and $3.12 per gallon in 2010 and 2011, respectively.
EIA expects the Henry Hub natural gas spot price to average $4.44 per million Btu (MMBtu) this year, a $0.49-per-MMBtu increase over the 2009 average, but a significant downward revision from the $5.17 per MMBtu projected in last month’s Outlook. The price outlook is lower primarily because of an average 2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) upward revision to the 2010 domestic natural gas production forecast.
The annual average residential electricity price changes only slightly over the forecast period, averaging 11.5 cents per kilowatthour (kWh) in both 2009 and 2010 and then rising to 11.7 cents per kWh in 2011.
U.S. Coal Prices. EIA estimates that the 2009 delivered electric-power-sector coal price increased by nearly 7 percent despite decreases in spot coal prices, lower prices for other fossil fuels, and declines in coal-fired electricity generation. This higher cost of delivered coal reflects the impact of longer-term power-sector coal contracts that were initiated during a period of high prices for all fuels. The projected electric-power-sector delivered coal price falls by more than 3 percent to average $2.14 per MMBtu in 2010 and declines by an additional 2.3 percent in 2011.
Estimated carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels, which declined by 6.6 percent in 2009, increase by 2.1 percent and 1.1 percent in 2010 and 2011, respectively, as economic growth fuels higher energy consumption.
Most of the information from this post came from the U.S. Information Administration You can read the full report there as well as some other analysis and forecasts.

. Alternate energy is not the complete answer,but every small step by every person worldwide can make a substantial reduction of our dependence on fossil fuels.