HomeNewsU.S. natgas prices ease to 2-week low on lower demand and flows to LNG export plants

U.S. natgas prices ease to 2-week low on lower demand and flows to LNG export plants

5/19/2025
  • S. LNG export feedgas hit record high in April
  • S. gas output hit record high in April
  • S. gas storage about 3% over five-year normal

U.S. natural gas futures eased about 1% to a two-week low on Friday on a smaller decline in output than previously expected, lower gas flows to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants and forecasts for less demand in two weeks.

That should translate into extra supplies that will allow utilities to keep injecting more gas into storage than usual for this time of year.

Gas futures for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 1.9 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $3.343 per million British thermal units (MMBtus), their lowest close since April 30 for a second day in a row.

That put the front-month down about 12% for the week after soaring about 29% over the prior two weeks.

Despite a heat wave in Texas this week, analysts said heating and cooling demand should remain low across much of the rest of the country in coming weeks, allowing utilities to keep adding more gas into storage than normal for this time of year.

Gas stockpiles were around 3% above the five-year (2020–2024) normal.

Supply and demand. Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states fell to 103.7 Bft3d so far in May, down from a monthly record of 105.8 Bft3d in April.

On a daily basis, output was on track to drop to a preliminary one-week low of 103.1 Bft3d on Friday. But that decline was smaller than previously expected. Analysts have noted that preliminary data is often revised later in the day.

Part of the reason for output reductions was spring maintenance on some gas pipes, including U.S. energy firm Kinder Morgan's 2.7-Bft3d Permian Highway from the Permian basin in West Texas to the Texas Gulf Coast.

Kinder Morgan said it will perform a turbine exchange at the Big Lake compressor station from May 13–26 that will reduce mainline capacity to around 2.2 Bft3d.

Traders have noted the Permian Highway reduction trapped some gas in the Permian basin, helping spot gas prices at the Waha Hub in West Texas to drop to around 94 cents per MMBtu on Friday, down from $1.58 For Thursday and an average of $1.87 over the prior seven days.

LSEG forecast average gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, will hold around 96.3 Bft3d this week and next before easing to 94.0 Bft3d in two weeks.

The average amount of gas flowing to the eight big LNG export plants operating in the U.S. fell to 15.1 Bft3d so far in May, down from a monthly record of 16.0 Bft3d in April.

The LNG feedgas decline so far this month was mostly due to reductions for maintenance at Cameron LNG's 2.0-Bft3d plant in Louisiana and Cheniere Energy's 3.9-Bft3d Corpus Christi plant under construction and in operation in Texas, and brief reductions at Freeport LNG's 2.1-Bft3d plant in Texas.

LSEG said gas flows to Corpus were on track to hold near a two-month low of 1.5 Bft3d for a third day in a row on Friday, down from 1.6 Bft3d on Tuesday and an average of 2.0 Bft3d during the prior seven days, while feedgas to Freeport was on track to rise to a four-month high of 2.2 Bft3d on Friday, up from 1.5 Bft3d on Thursday and an average of 2.0 Bft3d over the prior seven days.

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