Democratic Primary; Anybody but Obama wins 40% + in 3 Southern States

[MadImmortalMan]

Gas is cheaper than water right now. 

[derspiess]

Gas is cheaper than coal right now, I've heard places with natural gas power plants are paying sometimes as low as $0.035/kWh, around here with coal plants rates are as high as $0.06-0.11/kWH.

Cool-- I've always been a fan of natural gas & would like to see it compete naturally with coal.  I do not want to see coal killed off artificially.

[OttoVonBismarck]

I actually own some shares in some natural gas wells and a natural gas storage company. The wells have been very disappointing lately, but the storage company was extremely undervalued when I bought it so I'm hoping it is a long term gain.

[MadImmortalMan]

I actually own some shares in some natural gas wells and a natural gas storage company. The wells have been very disappointing lately, but the storage company was extremely undervalued when I bought it so I'm hoping it is a long term gain.

Yeah production isn't the best way to play it. It's storage and transport. The guys who make money on the volume, not the price. I like Kinder Morgan for the pipes and Cheniere once they get their LNG export facility up.

[CountDeMoney]

Our generation assets are getting killed by gas, but the commodities operations locking in the futures are seeing the results.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Yeah production isn't the best way to play it. It's storage and transport. The guys who make money on the volume, not the price. I like Kinder Morgan for the pipes and Cheniere once they get their LNG export facility up.

Yes, and something that's really going good for the storage companies is the glut of extra production has actually lead to us having a bit of a storage shortfall.

Not sure if you've been following the news lately about Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon, but it looks like Chesapeake has essentially made a massive bet that the price of natural gas is going to go up again, and substantially.

That isn't unreasonable. Obama has essentially prohibited new coal plants from opening, new natural gas plants are opening all the time increasing demand, and you're seeing chemical industries moving back to the United States which demand natural gas and its derivatives as raw inputs, then you also have plans to start turning natural gas into ethanol (which is actually probably a more effective means of getting it into cars than CNG autos.)

But where I think McClendon has made a mistake is I think cheap natural gas is a generational thing, I think the price will go back up, but a lot slower than McClendon was hoping--and it won't go up as much as he was hoping.

[CountDeMoney]

Not sure if you've been following the news lately about Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon, but it looks like Chesapeake has essentially made a massive bet that the price of natural gas is going to go up again, and substantially.

That isn't unreasonable. Obama has essentially prohibited new coal plants from opening, new natural gas plants are opening all the time increasing demand, and you're seeing chemical industries moving back to the United States which demand natural gas and its derivatives as raw inputs, then you also have plans to start turning natural gas into ethanol (which is actually probably a more effective means of getting it into cars than CNG autos.)

But where I think McClendon has made a mistake is I think cheap natural gas is a generational thing, I think the price will go back up, but a lot slower than McClendon was hoping--and it won't go up as much as he was hoping.

All of them are making that bet on gas;  hell, that's why Constellation opted out of the 3rd reactor at Calvert Cliffs with EDF, and Exelon has begun decommissioning their ComEd nuke plant in Illinois--they expect to make more of a mid-range profit on the gas forecasts.

[MadImmortalMan]

Yes, I had a position in CHK that got stopped out because of this mess. I think McClendon's bet is a good one, he just had too short of a timeframe on it. But they've been running that company like a prop desk apparently with all sorts of trading shenanigans, so the market is crushing them right now.

Edit: CHK May 15 put up 450% today. Damn.

[dps]

If he is talking about R&D than Nuclear would be #1 at least historically.  I think he means things like tax credits and the like.  Those big energy corps, like all big job creators, always have states falling over themselves to give them tax credits and other goodies.

That makes no sense.  Manufacterers get those breaks because they can go anywhere people have hands.  Coal companies have to go to places that have coal.

Coal mining operations have to go to the places that have coal.  Coal-fired power plants, however, can have the coal shipped to them.

[KRonn]

Gas is cheaper than coal right now, I've heard places with natural gas power plants are paying sometimes as low as $0.035/kWh, around here with coal plants rates are as high as $0.06-0.11/kWH.

Cool-- I've always been a fan of natural gas & would like to see it compete naturally with coal.  I do not want to see coal killed off artificially.

Agreed.

[katmai]

McClendon and Chesapeake are a bunch of lying conniving douche bags

[jimmy olsen]

So far Obama's opponent got 42% in Arkansas with 43% of the vote in and in Kentucky 42% voted uncommitted with 99% of the vote in.

http://www.politico.com/2012-election/map/#/President/2012/Primary/AR