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Highlights:

Electricity peak prices at four of the six hubs fell for the third week in a row. The NEPOOL and PJM West hubs increased by a few cents to $10/MWh while the other four hubs decreased by $1-11/MWh. All electricity peak prices last week were below the four-week average and the 52-week average (except for ERCOT, see pages 1 and 3).
Gas prices at the Henry Hub decreased $0.25 to $7.88/MMBtu. Below normal temperatures across most of the country was the primary reason for falling gas prices (see pages 1 and 3).
Estimated nuclear plant availability fell to 95 percent last week. Diablo Canyon 2 shut down due to a fire in the main bank transformer. D.C. Cook 2 shut down for planned maintenance on the turbine control system and steam valves. St. Lucie 1 shut down due to flooding from Tropical Storm Fay. Columbia scrammed due to a valve leak that tripped the turbine (Platts and NRC, see pages 2 and 4).
In May 2008, “the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources in all areas north of the Arctic Circle.” Their findings indicate that 90 billion barrels of oil (nearly 12 years of oil for the U.S. at current consumption rates), 1,669 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (about 72 years of gas for the U.S. at current consumption rates), and 44 billion barrels of natural gas liquids may remain to be found in the Arctic. See http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2008/3049/fs2008-3049.pdf.

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