Weis Communications Gretchen Weis, 713-385-8912 or BENTEK Energy Rusty Braziel, 303-988-1320

The U.S. has been sweltering under extremely hot temperatures during both July and August this summer, resulting in record- setting electricity generation coast to coast. As a result, U.S. power plants have been burning natural gas at all-time high record rates as consumers crank up air conditioners nationwide to beat the heat.

According to data released by BENTEK Energy, the leading provider of daily energy market supply and demand information and analysis to both the energy and financial services sectors, approximately 29.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas was burned in July or 17.5% over the record burn in August 2005 of 25.2 Bcf/d. August month-to-date is even higher, recording 30.2 Bcf/d through August 22nd with a record breaking daily burn of 42.3 Bcf/d on August 2nd.

Natural gas to meet this unprecedented demand has been either pulled out of storage or diverted from volumes previously destined for injection into natural gas storage facilities. Natural gas is normally stored in the summer season to meet heating demand load in the winter months. This summer's gas burn for power generation could reduce the large natural gas storage inventories built up earlier this year during the very warm 2005-2006 winter season.

Due to the significant impact this summer's unprecedented gas consumption could have on total gas demand and natural gas storage levels, BENTEK has created a new daily report of natural gas consumed by power generation plants. The BENTEK U.S. Power -- Gas Burn Report covers 427 plants across the United States, representing almost 50 percent of the natural gas burned for power generation.

"The need for prompt, accurate information about natural gas use in the power generation sector has never been greater, given this summer's record-setting electricity production resulting from the extreme July and August temperatures occurring throughout the country," said Porter Bennett, president and CEO of BENTEK Energy and a recognized expert on energy market fundamentals.

Each daily edition of BENTEK's Gas Burn Report provides gas consumption data organized in three formats:

--Gas consumption for power generation organized by eight NERC regions with day, month, season and year views

--Gas consumption for power generation organized by EIA storage week, which allows users to compare against natural gas storage injections and withdrawals.

--Detailed breakdown of gas consumption at each of the 427 electric power plants monitored by BENTEK's Energy Data Warehouse.

The report also provides a daily Gas Burn Number which is comparable to the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) U.S. Natural Gas Deliveries to Electric Power Consumers statistical series.

"As a predictor of the EIA Total U.S. Natural Gas Power Demand statistic, this report is extremely accurate," said Jim Simpson, VP of Operations with BENTEK. "A regression analysis of our Gas Burn Number to the EIA Gas Power Demand comes in at a very high correlation." BENTEK's newly created daily Gas Burn Number gives clients a very valuable data point to use in their assessment of weekly storage injections and withdrawals. When used in conjunction with BENTEK's daily Gas Storage Reports, customers gain a more complete picture of consumption and the corresponding storage injections and withdrawals for more accurate prediction of the EIA Gas Storage number released each week.

The U.S. Power -- Gas Burn Report is available by subscription. BENTEK Energy is providing those interested a limited-time free- trial offer. Visit www.bentekenergy.com and click on the Gas Burn Report icon to register.

About BENTEK Energy

Founded in 1985, BENTEK Energy specializes in bringing companies daily Energy Market Fundamentals that give them the analytical tools and competitive intelligence needed in order to make critical, bottom-line decisions in today's energy marketplace. Its product line includes BENport(TM) web portal, Energy Data Warehouse, Energy Visuals and Energy Analytics.

BENTEK Energy goes deep into the data to help clients understand the fundamentals -- how energy is moving, where bottlenecks may develop, and which supply/demand factors impact prices. It supports clients' decision making by providing energy flow, supply, demand, capacity and storage data packaged with graphics and analysis that aid in quick understanding and decision making.