THE WEAKENING OF THE COLD FRONT KEEPS PRICING DOWN BELOW $3.00
THE NATURAL GAS MARKET REMAINS VOLATILE ON COMPETING INDICATORS.
- The 6-10 day forecast of a mid-week cold front has weakened, and now most of the country will see average to above-average temps for a few days more.
- The Freeport LNG facility will begin to restart operations in the next couple of weeks but is not expected to reach 2.0 Bcf a day until at least the beginning of March
- A withdrawal of -91 Bcf reported for January 20 was well below the withdrawal for last year (-217) and the five-year average (-158). This has put Natural Gas storage at 4.1%, the storage number for this time last year, and 4.9% above the five-year average.
NATURAL GAS STORAGE REPORT
The Freeport LNG Facility has not fully met regulators’ requirements to reopen at 100%. Still, it will partially reopen in February with hopes of returning to 2.0 Bcf – 2.6 Bcf (full capacity) in early March. Once Freeport reaches 2.0 Bcf exported daily, that will be an extra 14 Bcf a week out of domestic storage.
With the mild winter weather, March Natural Gas pricing is the lowest since May 3, 2021. Take advantage now. A cooler forecast for spring (like the last two years) and the reopening of the Freeport LNG Facility are expected to push pricing back up toward $5.00 per MMBtu.
FORWARD POWER PRICING
BGE FORWARD POWER PRICING
ADHUB FORWARD POWER PRICING
Electricity pricing per MWh continues to see prices below $50.00 in the PJM Hub and below $60.00 in the BGE Hub. First Energy has one more auction scheduled for March. If the prices continue to fall, this will only help the utility rate starting in June. As it is, they were looking at utility pricing near $0.013 per kWh.
WEATHER: INTERRUPTION IN COLD FRONT
The cold front due to cover most of the U.S. has temporarily been pushed aside for a 6-10 forecast of mostly average and above-average temperatures.
