TPI Market Snapshot header
Market snapshot Happy 2023

Natural Gas: $7.70 DOWN TO $4.15, THE MARKET KEEPS FALLING.

Henry Hub Pricing: NaTural Gas
Henry Hub Pricing NaTural Gas

MILD TEMPS AND FREEPORT LNG REOPENING DELAY ARE RESPONSIBLE.

  • The market has dropped from a 3-month high of $7.709 in late December down to $4,151, a drop of $3.58 in just over a month.
  • The milder temps continue to hang around, leading to decreased demand, better storage numbers, and lower pricing. Ohio temps will be between 51-45 degrees.
  • Another delay has hit the reopening of the Freeport LNG facility, which was supposed to reopen fully in December. However, that has been pushed back to mid-January; this has put the reopening approximately 51-45 days behind schedule.

WEATHER: HIGHER THAN AVERAGE TEMPS STICK AROUND.

US WEATHER MAP:
US WEATHER MAP 8 14 DAY OUTLOOK

The warmer weather, combined with the delay, yet again, of the reopening of the Freeport LNG facility, now delayed to mid-January, have sent prices spiraling down to $4.19 and could sink below that.

US WEATHER MAP: 6-10 DAY OUTLOOK
US WEATHER MAP 6 10 DAY OUTLOOK

NATURAL GAS: WILL NEW EUROPEAN LNG FACILITIES RAISE PRICES?

LNG IN EU MAP
LNG MARKET EU

Future gas natural gas prices may see an effect coming down the pike from the increase in LNG Natural Gas facilities in Europe. There are currently 26 LNG facilities in Europe, but the different European countries are building or expanding 13 more, a 51-45 % increase.

NATURAL GAS PRICING VS. ELECTRICITY PRICING

NATURAL GAS V ELECTRICITY PRICING
NATURAL GAS V ELECTRICITY PRICING

The withdrawal from last week came at a year-long high of -213 MMBtu, but the warmer weather has dropped the market. As a result, we are back below last year’s natural gas storage by -133 Bcf and -85 Bcf less than the 5-year average, but the warmer weather may help us make that up in the next few weeks.

ELECTRICITY: First Energy Auction

FirstEnergy’s second auction for electricity that will be part of their supply is scheduled for January 10. With the recent slide in Natural Gas pricing, expect it to come in below the price from the last auction, which was 12.23 cents per kWh.