Energy Transfer posted its highest quarterly net income on record, more than three times its previous best quarter. What Abbott didn't mention was the massive windfall key industry players made during the freeze. Even though gas failed in its role as a reliable backup fuel during the freeze, Abbott pushed regulators in a letter to strengthen incentives for fossil fuel and nuclear generators while increasing 'reliability costs' for intermittent renewable power sources. This week, Governor Greg Abbott appeared to double down on his early assessment that wind and solar were prime culprits of the freeze. Texas lawmakers have set aside $10 billion to help natural gas utilities cover their natural gas costs from the storm through low-interest, state-backed bonds.Ī special legislative session convened Thursday but the agenda did not include any measures to fix the power grid. Millions of Texans are now faced with the prospect of paying higher gas prices for years as utilities seek to spread the cost over a decade or more. The BNEF estimate is based on spot prices at major hubs assessed by S&P Global Platts rather than private contracts, so is likely an upper limit of the total cost. A further $3 billion was spent by utilities providing gas for cooking, heating and fireplaces. The cost of gas for power generation alone was about $8.1 billion, or 75 times normal levels. Soon customers will be saddled with the bill.Īnd it's a big one: The total comes to about $11.1 billion for a storm that lasted for just five days, according to estimates by BloombergNEF analysts Jade Patterson and Nakul Nair. While Texans froze and natural gas-fired power plants tripped offline during a February cold snap, natural gas traders and pipeline companies made up to 11 billion in just nine days. Power producers were forced to pay top dollar in the spot market for whatever gas they could find. 11 billion in 9 daysTexas’ natural gas sellers cashed in on deep freeze State’s gas supplies halved during cold snap, but sellers made record profits. As the flow of gas cratered, everyone scrambled to secure enough supply, sparking one of the wildest price surges in history. From a report: Interviews with energy executives and an analysis of public records by Bloomberg News show that natural gas producers in the Permian shale basin began to drastically reduce output days before power companies cut them off. It's now becoming clear that while millions of Texans endured days of power cuts, the state's gas producers contributed to fuel shortages, allowing pipelines and traders to profit handsomely off them. Still, Tesla short-sellers have continued to cover chunks of their short exposure, S3 said.The official autopsy of the great Texas winter blackout of February 2021 quickly established a clear timeline of events: Electric utilities cut off power to customers and distributors as well as natural gas producers, which in turn triggered a negative feedback loop that sunk the state deeper and deeper into frigid darkness. The Tesla short bet gained $1.10 billion in mark-to-market profits during the period as shares fell 17%, recouping 12% of the $9 billion mark-to-market losses traders have had betting against the automaker this year. One of the most profitable shorts in that period was Tesla, a favorite stock to bet against, according to the report. "Short side winners clearly outpaced losers, with over five profitable shorts to every one losing position in the more widely traded short equities," wrote Ihor Dusaniwsky, the managing partner of predictive analytics at S3. In the same period, the S&P 500 index fell 10%. There was also nearly $15 billion of additional broad short selling in the week, according to S3. As markets sold off amid panic that the coronavirus outbreak would hinder global growth, short-sellers raked in gains.įrom February 24 to March 3, short-sellers made $51.3 billion in mark-to-market profits, according to data published on Wednesday by the financial-analytics firm S3 Partners.
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