The Zhitong Finance App learned that US gas futures recorded the biggest decline in nearly two weeks, as the shutdown of the Freeport LNG plant in Texas will increase domestic supply in the US. At the same time, expectations of warmer weather are expected to make the prospects for heating demand bleak.
The price of recent monthly natural gas futures for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 8.2% to 2.490 US dollars/million GBP, the third lowest since this year, while the most active March contract price fell 5.6% to 2.05 USD/million GBP, the lowest since April 13 last year.
US liquefied natural gas export terminal developer Freeport LNG (Freeport LNG) said on Friday that due to the severe cold weather in January, one of the three liquefaction plants will be shut down for one month, reducing the facility's feedstock gas utilization rate by 45%-55%.
Schneider Electric's Victoria Dircksen said that the month-long shutdown “is expected to ease market conditions during the factory shutdown period, preserve supply (about 1 billion cubic feet/day) in the domestic market, and exacerbate the oversupply situation.”
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported last week that US domestic gas supply recorded the biggest weekly increase in the past three years, with inventories surging 326 billion cubic feet, making supply 142 billion cubic feet higher than the five-year average.