U.S. gas futures fell 1% on Thursday

WASHINGTON, Sep 30 – PRIME Natural gas prices fell about 1% on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Thursday on a larger-than-expected build in inventories. In addition, more than 2.6 million consumers in Florida were left without power due to Hurricane Ian, which led to a decrease in demand for natural gas from power plants, Reuters reported.

The US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Thursday that US natural gas inventories increased by 103 billion cubic feet during the week of September 17-23. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 94 billion cubic foot rise in inventories. In the same period last year, natural gas reserves increased by 77 billion cubic feet, and the average 5-year value (from 2017 to 2021) is 86 billion cubic feet.

November natural gas futures fell 8.1 cents, or 1.2%, to $6.874 per million BTUs on Thursday.

Over the past period this year, natural gas prices in the United States have risen by about 85% against the background of rising prices in world markets. In Europe, natural gas traded at $53 per MMBtu on Thursday, while in Asia it traded at $39 per MMBtu.

Hurricanes affect demand more than supply, analysts say, as they result in power outages and the closure of LNG terminals.

Only about 2% of US natural production comes from the Gulf of Mexico, with no mining taking place in Florida. U.S. natural gas production is primarily concentrated in the Permian Basin and the Marcellus Formation in Pennsylvania.