Natural-Gas Prices tanking 25% since Thanksgiving
The most volatile year on record for natural-gas futures has taken another sharp turn!
Futures have dropped roughly 25% since closing at $7.71 per million British thermal units the day before Thanksgiving.
Tweet on Natural gas prices
Natural-Gas Prices Have Shed 25% Since Thanksgiving, argues @WSJ
The most volatile year on record for natural-gas futures has taken another sharp turn, by roughly shedding 25% since closing at $7.71 per million British thermal units the day before Thanksgiving!#LNG #GasPrices pic.twitter.com/mjcSwJm6Gd
— The_Journalbiz (@the_journalbiz) December 5, 2022
FactSet chart on natural gas price fluctuations
The big drivers have been unexpectedly warm weather and delays restarting a big LNG export facility in Texas that has been down since a fire in June.
Gas trading firm EBW Analytics Group estimates that demand has dropped by 135 billion cubic feet since Thanksgiving and that weather forecasts suggest that the amount of gas in storage—which had been alarmingly low this summer—could flip to a surplus within two weeks.
While Gasoline Prices are plunging too
The national average price of unleaded gasoline has declined by nearly 10 percent over the past three weeks, to $3.40 per gallon, and is now within five cents of where it was a year ago, according to AAA.
Prices peaked this year in June, at just over $5.00 per gallon, driven by the surging price of crude oil, which at the time exceeded $120 per barrel. Crude has since sunk to about $80 per barrel.
