U.S. coal burn up 2 percent for week - Genscape

Sat Apr 24, 2010 1:50am IST

 

HOUSTON, April 23 (Reuters) - U.S. coal use this week rose
2 percent from last week, Genscape said Friday, as warm weather
swept much of the country.

Compared with the same week last year, U.S. coal
consumption - which mostly goes to fuel power generation - was
down 8 percent for the week ended Thursday, the data provider
said.

"The past seven days were a rather quiet and mild stretch
for a large portion of the nation," the WSI Corp weather
service said.

California was cooler, but it has little coal-fired
generation.

Coal demand in the populous East was unchanged last week
from the previous week but was 6 percent lower than the same
week last year, Genscape said.

In the West, coal use, which accounts for a smaller share
of power generation than in the East, was down 4 percent for
the week and down 3 percent from the same week last year.

Coal consumption shifts seasonally, and varies from week to
week and region to region, depending on electricity demand to
power heaters and air-conditioners.

For reports on U.S.energy weather day by day, see [WSC/OUS]
and [WSC/STORM].

Genscape's regional indexes are calculated separately from
the national index and do not always add up to the separately
calculated U.S. total, Genscape has said.
Region     April 22   Last wk  Yr ago  Pct wk  Pct yr
Nation      15.95     15.66    17.34    +2     -8
East        14.30     14.32    15.22     0     -6
West         1.98      2.06     2.05    -4     -3
 (Reporting by Bruce Nichols; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Source: http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINN2354329020100423