NEW YORK: US natural gas futures slid about 2% on Tuesday on forecasts for less cold weather and lower heating demand than previously expected through early December and questions about whether Freeport will be able to restart its liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Texas in mid December as planned.
Freeport LNG has not yet submitted a full request to the US Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to restart the export plant, according to sources familiar with the company’s filings.
That lack of filing raises questions about whether the company can meet its mid December restart target.
This matters because once the 2.1-billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) plant restarts it will consume US gas to turn it into LNG for export, boosting demand for gas at the same time cold winter weather will boost heating demand.
Traders noted there was still one factor keeping prices from falling further - worries about a possible US rail strike that would disrupt shipments of coal to utilities, which would force power generators to burn more gas to produce electricity.
Even though the delayed Freeport restart caused one LNG vessel - LNG Rosenrot - to turn away from the plant last week, several other ships have remained near the facility - some for weeks - including Prism Brilliance, Prism Diversity and Prism Courage. In addition, the Prism Agility was expected to arrive at the plant site in a few days, according to ship tracking data from Refinitiv.
In other LNG news, the Cadiz Knutsen arrived at the Everett LNG terminal in Massachusetts with a cargo of the super-cooled fuel from Trinidad, the first LNG vessel to visit Everett since August, according to Refinitiv data.
But with Everett competing with European buyers willing to pay around $35 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) for gas versus just $7 in the United States, the Massachusetts port has imported only 16.7 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas as LNG during the first 10 months of this year.
That is down from 18.1 bcf during the same period in 2021 and a five-year (2017-2021) average of 33.3 bcf, according to federal energy data.
New England depends on LNG and oil to fuel some power plants on the coldest days when most of the region’s pipeline gas is being used to heat homes and businesses. About half of the power generated in New England comes from gas-fired plants.
Front-month gas futures for December delivery fell 14.1 cents, or 2.1%, to $6.635 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at 8:06 a.m. EST (1306 GMT). On Monday, the contract closed at its highest since Nov. 7.
Rapid price changes in recent weeks - futures have gained or lost over 5% on more than half the trading days so far in November - boosted the contract’s 30-day implied volatility index to its highest since hitting a record in October 2021. The market uses implied volatility to estimate likely price changes in the future.
Gas futures were up about 78% so far this year as much higher global gas prices feed demand for US exports due to supply disruptions and sanctions linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Gas was trading at $36 per mmBtu at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) in Europe and $27 at the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) in Asia.
With the coming of less cold weather, Refinitiv projected average US gas demand, including exports, would drop from 126.3 bcfd this week to 113.7 bcfd next week. The forecasts for next week was lower than Refinitiv’s outlook on Monday.