NEW YORK: US natural gas futures held near a one-week high on Tuesday on a drop in output over the past couple of weeks and near-record gas flows to US liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants.
Front-month gas futures for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 0.2 cent, or 0.1 percent, to USD2.687 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). On Monday, the contract closed at its highest level since April 8 for a second day in a row.
That lack of price movement came despite forecasts for lower demand over the next two weeks than previously expected. In the cash market, average prices at the Waha Hub in West Texas remained in negative territory for a record 52 days in a row as pipeline constraints continued to trap gas in the Permian region, the nation’s biggest oil-producing shale basin.
Daily Waha prices first averaged below zero in 2019. They did so 17 times in 2019, six times in 2020, once in 2023, 49 times in 2024, 39 times in 2025, and a record 61 times so far this year.
Waha prices have averaged a negative USD1.86 per mmBtu so far in 2026, compared with a positive USD1.15 in 2025 and a positive USD2.88 over the past five years (2021-2025).
Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the US Lower 48 states held at 110.4 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in April, the same as in March. That compares with a monthly record high of 110.7 bcfd in December 2025.
On a daily basis, output was on track to drop by around 3.9 bcfd over the past 15 days to a preliminary 11-week low of 108.2 bcfd on Tuesday. Preliminary data, however, is often revised later in the day.
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