April STEO – U.S. Electric Use to Hit New Record High in 2024/25

Once a month, the analysts at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issue the agency’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), their best guess about where energy prices and production will go in the next 12 months or so. We sometimes poke good-natured fun at the EIA because their predictions go up in one month, and in…

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NatGas Plays Like M-U & Haynesville Getting Slammed by Assoc. Gas

For years, we have watched natural gas production in oil-focused plays like the Permian (in Texas and New Mexico) steadily rise. It was an annoyance, a curiosity, mostly an afterthought because production in the Marcellus/Utica, where we concentrate our attention, was also rising and quite dominant. But the M-U hit a plateau in December 2019…

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Henry Hub Spot Price Hit Lowest “Real” Level in 27 Yrs in February

The U.S. benchmark Henry Hub daily natural gas price averaged $1.50 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) on February 20, 2024, the lowest price in inflation-adjusted dollars since “at least” 1997. In fact, when you look at the ten lowest daily Henry Hub natgas spot prices since Jan. 1, 1997, six of the ten lowest…

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Promised Cutbacks in Production/Drilling Lift NYMEX Price 11%

Finally, here’s a little good news to write about regarding the price of natural gas! The NYMEX front month futures contract yesterday started the day with a bang based on announcements from the previous evening (in advance of a conference call) from Chesapeake Energy that the company plans to scale back production by roughly 1…

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NYMEX Gas Price Free Fall Continues – Flirting with $1.50/MMBtu

It feels like the NYMEX Henry Hub futures price for natural gas is in a free fall, heading for $1.50/MMBtu or (gasp) maybe even lower. Yesterday, the NYMEX price for the front month closed at $1.58/MMBtu. The price has been down for eight trading days in a row and is at the lowest price since…

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NYMEX Henry Hub Futures Price Crash Continues – Closed at $1.77

We’re sad to have to report on yet another down day of the NYMEX Henry Hub natural gas futures contract. Yesterday, the NYMEX price closed at $1.77/MMBtu, the lowest closing price for the “front month” contract in 3 1/2 years (since Monday, July 27, 2020). Yesterday’s closing price breaks through the latest “floor” of $1.80,…

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EIA’s Outlook for Natural Gas Spot Price in 2024 and 2025

We report today in a companion story about the crash in the NYMEX price to $1.77/MMBtu that NGI’s Spot Gas National Average jumped 36.5 cents to $2.115 yesterday based on winter weather forecasts in some states. What will the Henry Hub spot price (not the futures price, but the physically traded spot price) average for…

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Crash in NatGas Price Likely Means Cut in New M-U Drilling

The NYMEX Henry Hub futures price closed lower once again yesterday, at $1.92 (down a nickel from the previous day). These are prices we haven’t seen in three years. The current crash in price is prompting analysts to speculate (with good reason) that it will result in less new gas well drilling in gas-focused plays,…

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NYMEX Henry Hub NatGas Closes at $1.97, Lowest Price in 3 Years

Here we go, to the bad old days, once again. Yesterday, the “front month” or “prompt month” for the NYMEX Henry Hub futures contract closed below $2/MMBtu — closing at $1.97. It is the lowest close for the NYMEX front month contract since September 2020, when it closed at $1.83. Yeah, the bad old days…

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NatGas Price is Crashing and Burning – How Low Will It Go?

U.S. natural gas and power prices hit multi-year highs in mid-January with the prospect of frigid temps and snow storms in various portions of the country (see NatGas Prices Make Huge Jump on Deep Freeze – Some M-U Prices 4X). The NYMEX Henry Hub futures price hit $3.31/MMBtu just three weeks ago. A week later,…

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EIA Predicts NYMEX Henry Hub to Average $2.40/MMBtu in Feb/Mar

Once a month, the analysts at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issue the agency’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), their best guess about where energy prices and production will go in the next 12 months or so. We sometimes poke good-natured fun at the EIA because their predictions go up in one month, and in…

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NYMEX Price Took Another Beating Friday, Closed at $2.52/MMBtu

Just one week ago, the price of natural gas, both the futures price and spot (physical) price, jumped — in some cases by four times in the space of just a couple of days (see NatGas Prices Make Huge Jump on Deep Freeze – Some M-U Prices 4X). And just as quickly as the price…

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Fitch Solutions’ BMI Predicts Big Increase Coming in Henry Hub Price

BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, recently provided a price forecast for the Henry Hub gas price all the way out to 2028. BMI’s forecast is much rosier than others we’ve read. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently predicted the Henry Hub price will average under $3/MMBtu in both 2024 and 2025. BMI, on the…

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NatGas Prices Make Huge Drop on Prospect of Warmer Weather

Well, that didn’t take long. Yesterday we told you about the huge jump in the price of natural gas, both the futures price and the spot (physically traded) price, due to the brutal cold snap much of the country is currently experiencing (see NatGas Prices Make Huge Jump on Deep Freeze – Some M-U Prices…

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NatGas Prices Make Huge Jump on Deep Freeze – Some M-U Prices 4X

U.S. natural gas and power prices hit multi-year highs on Friday with the prospect of frigid temps and snow storms in various portions of the country. The extreme cold was expected to bring record gas demand and cut supplies by freezing wells. The spot price of natural gas at various trading hubs from the West…

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