HomeNewsU.S. natgas prices drop 5% to 1-week low on rising output, lower gas flows to LNG export plants

U.S. natgas prices drop 5% to 1-week low on rising output, lower gas flows to LNG export plants

6/9/2025
  • Speculators boost net longs last week to highest since April
  • Spot gas prices drop to 6-month low
  • Storage injections seen at > 100 Bft3 for record tying 7th week in a row

U.S. natural gas futures fell about 5% to a one-week low on Monday on an increase in output in recent days and a drop in the amount of gas flowing to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants due to ongoing spring maintenance at several facilities.

Gas futures for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange were down 17.4 cents, or 4.6%, to $3.610 per million British thermal units at 9:32 a.m. EDT (1332 GMT), putting the contract on track for its lowest close since May 30.

With gas futures up about 10% last week, speculators boosted their net long futures and options positions on the New York Mercantile and Intercontinental exchanges to their highest since April, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Commitments of Traders report showed.

Fast-growing volumes of gas in storage have also helped keep futures prices in check in recent weeks.

Gas stockpiles are about 5% above normal for this time of year and analysts forecast energy firms made a record-tying, triple-digit injection during the week ended June 6 for a seventh week in a row.

The last time energy firms added 100 Bft3 or more gas into storage for seven weeks in a row was in June 2014, according to federal energy data going back to 2010.

Another factor keeping pressure on futures prices over the past month or so has been low cash prices.

Next-day gas prices at the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark in Louisiana were trading around a six-month low of $2.68 per MMBtu, keeping spot contracts below front-month futures every day since late April. 

Analysts have said that so long as spot prices remain far enough below front-month futures to cover margin and storage costs, traders should be able to lock in arbitrage profits by buying spot gas, storing it and selling a futures contract.

Supply and demand. Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states had held at 105.2 Bft3d so far in June, the same as in May. That is down from a monthly record high of 106.3 Bft3d in March due primarily to normal spring maintenance. Output so far this month is higher than projected on Friday when the average was just 104.8 Bft3d in June.

Energy firms usually work on gas pipes and other equipment in the spring and autumn when demand for the fuel for heating and cooling is low.

Meteorologists project weather across the Lower 48 states will remain mostly warmer than normal through June 24.

LSEG forecast average gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, would rise from 98.6 Bft3d this week to 100.7 Bft3d next week. The forecast for this week is higher than LSEG's outlook on Friday.

The average amount of gas flowing to the eight big U.S. LNG export plants has fallen to 13.8 Bft3d so far in June, down from 15 Bft3d in May and a monthly record high of 16 Bft3d in April.

Traders said LNG feedgas reductions since April were primarily due to spring maintenance, including work at Cameron LNG's 2.0-Bft3d plant in Louisiana and Cheniere Energy's 4.5-Bft3d Sabine Pass in Louisiana and 3.9-Bft3d Corpus Christi in Texas, and short, unplanned unit outages at Freeport LNG's 2.1-Bft3d plant in Texas on May 6, May 23, May 28 and June 3.

Energy traders have noted that LNG maintenance would likely continue through mid-June at Cameron and late-June at Sabine.

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