NEW YORK: US natural gas futures slid about 2percent on Thursday on ample amounts of gas in storage and expectations energy firms will keep injecting more gas into storage than usual in coming weeks.
Futures had risen for the previous six days on a drop in output in recent weeks and near-record liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.
Front-month gas futures for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 4.8 cents, or 1.8percent, to USD2.674 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). On Wednesday, the contract closed at its highest price since April 8 for a fourth day in a row.
That price decline occurred ahead of a federal report expected to show energy firms added more gas than usual to storage last week as mild weather kept heating demand low.
Analysts forecast that energy firms added 94 billion cubic feet of gas into storage during the week ended April 17. That figure compares with an increase of 77 bcf during the same week last year and a five-year (2021-2025) average increase of 64 bcf for the period.
In the cash market, average prices at the Waha Hub in West Texas have remained in negative territory for a record 54 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 63 times so far this year.
Waha prices have averaged a negative USD1.91 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 has eased to 110.3 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in April, down from 110.4 bcfd in March. That figure 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 3.8 bcfd over the past 17 days to a preliminary 11-week low of 108.3 bcfd on Thursday. Preliminary data, however, is often revised later in the day.
Analysts said mostly mild weather so far this spring has allowed energy firms to inject more gas into storage than usual, boosting inventories to a projected 7percent above normal levels during the week ended April 17, up from 6percent above normal during the week ended April 10.
Looking ahead, meteorologists forecast the weather will remain mostly near normal through May 8.
LSEG projected average gas demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, would slide from 103.7 bcfd this week to 100.5 bcfd next week. That forecast was similar to LSEG’s outlook on Wednesday.
Average gas flows to the nine big US LNG export plants have risen to 18.9 bcfd so far in April, up from 18.6 bcfd in March.