US natural gas prices down

NEW YORK: US natural gas futures held near a nine-month low on Wednesday as forecasts for higher demand over the next two weeks and rising gas flows to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants offset near-record output and ample fuel in stockpiles.

Front-month gas futures for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 0.4 cents, or 0.1%, to $2.762 per million British thermal units at 9:37 a.m. EDT (1337 GMT), putting the contract on track for its lowest close since November 8 for a second day in a row.

That price decline kept the front-month in technically oversold territory for a second day in a row.

Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 states rose to 108.4 billion cubic feet per day so far in August, up from a record monthly high of 107.8 bcfd in July.

Meteorologists forecast the weather will remain mostly near normal through September 4, which is about the same as previously expected.

Despite hotter-than-usual weather earlier in the summer, record output allowed energy companies to inject more gas into storage than usual in recent months.

Analysts said there was about 6% more gas in storage than normal for this time of year and predicted inventories would keep growing at a faster than usual pace in coming weeks.

LSEG projected average gas demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, would ease from 111.0 bcfd this week to 106.6 bcfd next week. Those forecasts were higher than LSEG’s outlook on Tuesday.

The average amount of gas flowing to the eight big US LNG export plants rose to 15.8 bcfd so far in August, up from 15.5 bcfd in July. That compares with a record monthly high of 16.0 bcfd in April.

On a daily basis, LNG export feedgas was on track to rise to 15.3 bcfd on Wednesday from a two-week low of 14.2 bcfd on both Monday and Tuesday due to reductions at several plants, including Cheniere Energy’s 4.5-bcfd Sabine Pass in Louisiana, Cameron LNG’s 2.0-bcfd plant in Louisiana, and Freeport LNG’s 2.1-bcfd plant in Texas.