U.S. Energy Information Administration logo
Skip to sub-navigation

Natural Gas

‹ See the most recent Natural Gas Weekly Update

Natural Gas Weekly Update

for week ending September 30, 2020   |  Release date:  October 1, 2020   |  Next release:  October 8, 2020   |   Previous weeks


JUMP TO: In The News | Overview | Prices/Supply/Demand | Storage

In the News:

After Hurricane Laura, Cameron LNG remains offline but Sabine Pass exports resume

The Sabine Pass and Cameron LNG natural gas liquefaction and export terminals located in Louisiana were both affected by Hurricane Laura, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on August 27, 2020. Although both liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities survived the storm with minimal damage, damage to the electrical and marine infrastructure around the Cameron LNG facility has persisted, and the facility remains offline. Feedgas deliveries to the Sabine Pass terminal resumed on September 2, according to Genscape (a Wood Mackenzie business), and the facility shipped its first post-hurricane cargo two weeks after the storm on September 11.

Because of differences in how each facility sources electric power, the facilities have faced different impacts as a result of the hurricane. At the Sabine Pass terminal, onsite generators consume natural gas to provide the facility with electric power. The Cameron LNG terminal purchases electricity offsite from the local electric utility, Entergy Gulf States Louisiana. Approximately 93,000 customers, including the Cameron LNG facility, were left without power after Hurricane Laura made landfall and damaged electricity transmission infrastructure.

Entergy restored partial electric power to Cameron LNG on September 18, 2020. Currently, the facility is testing equipment in order to restart the liquefaction process. It resumed receiving feedgas on September 27. Feedstock deliveries to the facility averaged 11.6 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) on September 27 and 28, and they increased to 20.2 MMcf/d on September 29, according to Genscape. However, the Calcasieu Ship Channel, where the terminal is sited, remains partially blocked. The intracoastal waterways around the Cameron LNG facility can currently only accommodate movement of vessels with draft up to 30 feet, whereas most LNG vessels have a 40-foot draft. The channel must still be dredged for LNG vessels to be able to transit without restrictions.

Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG export terminal is the largest in the United States and has a capacity of approximately 30 million tons of LNG per year. The first of Sabine Pass’s five operating liquefaction units (trains) came online in February 2016, and the most recent one began commercial operations in March 2019. Sempra’s Cameron LNG terminal began operation in May 2019, and its third liquefaction train started operations in May 2020. With that train operating, Cameron LNG’s capacity is 12 million tons of LNG per year.

Overview:

(For the week ending Wednesday, September 30, 2020)

  • Natural gas spot prices fell at most locations this report week (Wednesday, September 23 to Wednesday, September 30). The Henry Hub spot price fell from $1.74 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $1.63/MMBtu yesterday.
  • At the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the October 2020 contract expired Monday at $2.101/MMBtu, down 2¢/MMBtu from last Wednesday. The November 2020 contract price decreased to $2.527/MMBtu, down 27¢/MMBtu from last Wednesday to yesterday. The price of the 12-month strip averaging November 2020 through October 2021 futures contracts declined 7¢/MMBtu to $2.901/MMBtu.
  • The net injections to working gas totaled 76 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ending September 25. Working natural gas stocks totaled 3,756 Bcf, which is 14% more than the year-ago level and 12% more than the five-year (2015–19) average for this week.
  • The natural gas plant liquids composite price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, rose by 5¢/MMBtu, averaging $4.80/MMBtu for the week ending September 30. The prices of propane and butane fell by 1% and 7%, respectively. The prices of isobutane and ethane rose by 1% and 8%, respectively. The price of natural gasoline remained flat week over week.
  • According to Baker Hughes, for the week ending Tuesday, September 22, the natural gas rig count increased by 2 to 75. The number of oil-directed rigs rose by 4 to 183. The total rig count increased by 6, and it now stands at 261.

more summary data

Prices/Supply/Demand:

Prices fall at most locations. This report week (Wednesday, September 23 to Wednesday, September 30), the Henry Hub spot price fell 11¢ from $1.74/MMBtu last Wednesday to a low of $1.63/MMBtu yesterday. Temperatures were generally close to normal across the Lower 48 states with warmer-than-normal temperatures in the Northeast and Southwest. At the Chicago Citygate, the price decreased 29¢ from $1.74/MMBtu last Wednesday to $1.45/MMBtu yesterday.

California prices rise with high temperatures in Southern California at the end of the report week. The price at PG&E Citygate in Northern California rose 7¢, up from a low of $3.77/MMBtu last Wednesday to $3.84/MMBtu yesterday. The price at SoCal Citygate in Southern California increased $1.34 from $2.86/MMBtu last Wednesday to $4.20/MMBtu yesterday after reaching a high of $5.25/MMBtu on Tuesday amid triple digit temperatures and an increase in cooling demand at the end of the report week. Following three days of natural gas storage withdrawals during the report week, storage levels in the Southern California Gas system are now 78.8 Bcf, 5.4 Bcf higher than a year ago.

Northeast prices fall. At the Algonquin Citygate, which serves Boston-area consumers, the price went down 33¢ from $1.46/MMBtu last Wednesday to a low of $1.13/MMBtu yesterday. At the Transcontinental Pipeline Zone 6 trading point for New York City, the price decreased 33¢ from $1.28/MMBtu last Wednesday to a low of $0.95/MMBtu yesterday. Stronger natural gas production in the Northeast and higher-than-normal storage levels from Dominion and Columbia Gas could be contributing to the recent lower prices in the Northeast, according to S&P Global Platts.

The Tennessee Zone 4 Marcellus spot price decreased 35¢ from $1.23/MMBtu last Wednesday to $0.88/MMBtu yesterday. The price at Dominion South in southwest Pennsylvania fell 31¢ from $1.26/MMBtu last Wednesday to $0.95/MMBtu yesterday.

Permian Basin discount to the Henry Hub widens throughout the week. The price at the Waha Hub in West Texas, which is located near Permian Basin production activities, averaged $1.39/MMBtu last Wednesday, 35¢/MMBtu lower than the Henry Hub price. Yesterday, the price at the Waha Hub averaged $0.71/MMBtu, 92¢/MMBtu lower than the Henry Hub price. The price decline at the Waha Hub comes as El Paso Natural Gas conducts pipeline maintenance, which restricts gas flows out of the Permian.

Supply rises slightly. According to data from IHS Markit, the average total supply of natural gas rose by 0.6% compared with the previous report week. Dry natural gas production grew by 0.3% compared with the previous report week. Average net imports from Canada increased by 7.5% from last week. Despite the weekly increase, TC Energy is reporting ongoing maintenance on its Gas Transmission Pipeline Northwest from September 29–October 5. Natural gas flows at the Eastport-Kingsgate border crossing in Idaho will be limited to 2 Bcf/d, or 0.6 Bcf/d less than its estimated flow capacity.

Demand rises slightly with gains in the power sector. Total U.S. consumption of natural gas rose by 0.4% compared with the previous report week, according to data from IHS Markit. Natural gas consumed for power generation climbed by 3.8% week over week. In the residential and commercial sectors, consumption declined by 7.5% amid seasonal fall temperatures. Industrial sector consumption decreased by 0.5% week over week. Natural gas exports to Mexico decreased 1.5%. Natural gas deliveries to U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities (LNG pipeline receipts) averaged 6.5 Bcf/d, or 0.45 Bcf/d higher than last week.

U.S. LNG exports increase week over week. Fourteen LNG vessels (eight from Sabine Pass, three from Freeport, two from Corpus Christi, and one from Elba Island) with a combined LNG-carrying capacity of 50 Bcf departed the United States between September 24 and September 30, according to shipping data provided by Marine Traffic.

Cove Point LNG terminal is undergoing a scheduled annual maintenance and exported its last cargo prior to shutting down on September 20.

.

Storage:

The net injections into storage totaled 76 Bcf for the week ending September 25, compared with the five-year (2015–19) average net injections of 78 Bcf and last year's net injections of 109 Bcf during the same week. Working natural gas stocks totaled 3,756 Bcf, which is 405 Bcf more than the five-year average and 471 Bcf more than last year at this time.

According to The Desk survey of natural gas analysts, estimates of the weekly net change to working natural gas stocks ranged from net injections of 71 Bcf to 86 Bcf, with a median estimate of 77 Bcf.

The average rate of injections into storage is 6% higher than the five-year average so far in the refill season (April through October). If the rate of injections into storage matched the five-year average of 10.3 Bcf/d for the remainder of the refill season, the total inventory would be 4,128 Bcf on October 31, which is 405 Bcf higher than the five-year average of 3,723 Bcf for that time of year

More storage data and analysis can be found on the Natural Gas Storage Dashboard and the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report.

See also:



Natural gas spot prices
Spot Prices ($/MMBtu)
Thu,
24-Sep
Fri,
25-Sep
Mon,
28-Sep
Tue,
29-Sep
Wed,
30-Sep
Henry Hub 1.94 1.90 1.84 1.69 1.63
New York 1.36 0.99 1.40 1.18 0.95
Chicago 1.90 1.70 1.55 1.36 1.45
Cal. Comp. Avg.* 3.09 3.09 3.28 3.98 3.47
Futures ($/MMBtu)
October Contract 2.248 2.139 2.101 Expired Expired
November Contract 2.899 2.807 2.795 2.561 2.527
December Contract 3.343 3.277 3.271 3.118 3.117
*Avg. of NGI's reported prices for: Malin, PG&E Citygate, and Southern California Border Avg.
Sources: Natural Gas Intelligence and CME Group as compiled by Bloomberg, L.P.
Natural gas futures prices
Natural gas liquids spot prices


U.S. natural gas supply - Gas Week: (9/24/20 - 9/30/20)
Average daily values (Bcf/d):
this week
last week
last year
Marketed production
98.7
98.3
107.2
Dry production
87.2
87.0
95.0
Net Canada imports
3.8
3.5
4.6
LNG pipeline deliveries
0.1
0.1
0.1
Total supply
91.1
90.5
99.6

Source: IHS Markit
Note: LNG pipeline deliveries represent natural gas sendout from LNG import terminals.

U.S. natural gas consumption - Gas Week: (9/24/20 - 9/30/20)
Average daily values (Bcf/d):
this week
last week
last year
U.S. consumption
60.5
60.2
64.0
    Power
30.4
29.3
34.7
    Industrial
21.2
21.3
20.4
    Residential/commercial
8.9
9.6
9.0
Mexico exports
5.9
6.0
5.7
Pipeline fuel use/losses
6.5
6.4
7.1
LNG pipeline receipts
6.5
6.0
6.4
Total demand
79.3
78.7
83.2

Source: IHS Markit
Note: LNG pipeline receipts represent pipeline deliveries to LNG export terminals.

Natural gas supply


Weekly natural gas rig count and average Henry Hub
Rigs
Tue, September 22, 2020
Change from
 
last week
last year
Oil rigs
183
2.2%
-74.3%
Natural gas rigs
75
2.7%
-48.6%
Note: Excludes any miscellaneous rigs
Rig numbers by type
Tue, September 22, 2020
Change from
 
last week
last year
Vertical
16
-5.9%
-68.6%
Horizontal
224
4.2%
-70.2%
Directional
21
-8.7%
-63.2%
Source: Baker Hughes Co.


Working gas in underground storage
Stocks
billion cubic feet (Bcf)
Region
2020-09-25
2020-09-18
change
East
872
851
21
Midwest
1,033
1,009
24
Mountain
 231
 225
6
Pacific
316
312
4
South Central
1,304
1,283
21
Total
3,756
3,680
76
Source: Form EIA-912, Weekly Underground Natural Gas Storage Report
Working gas in underground storage
Historical comparisons
Year ago
(9/25/19)
5-year average
(2015-2019)
Region
Stocks (Bcf)
% change
Stocks (Bcf)
% change
East
817
6.7
827
5.4
Midwest
962
7.4
946
9.2
Mountain
198
16.7
205
12.7
Pacific
290
9.0
306
3.3
South Central
1,020
27.8
1,065
22.4
Total
3,285
14.3
3,351
12.1
Source: Form EIA-912, Weekly Underground Natural Gas Storage Report


Temperature – heating & cooling degree days (week ending Sep 24)
 
HDD deviation from:
 
CDD deviation from:
Region
HDD Current
normal
last year
CDD Current
normal
last year
New England
69
27
46
0
-1
-12
Middle Atlantic
56
24
44
0
-8
-17
E N Central
52
16
46
0
-9
-37
W N Central
30
-9
20
10
-3
-33
South Atlantic
34
23
32
40
-14
-25
E S Central
24
13
23
21
-19
-51
W S Central
5
3
5
44
-27
-71
Mountain
10
-33
-19
49
16
21
Pacific
4
-10
-2
37
11
11
United States
32
7
24
24
-6
-24
Note: HDD = heating degree day; CDD = cooling degree day

Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Average temperature (°F)

7-day mean ending Sep 24, 2020

Mean Temperature (F) 7-Day Mean ending Sep 24, 2020

Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Deviation between average and normal (°F)

7-day mean ending Sep 24, 2020

Mean Temperature Anomaly (F) 7-Day Mean ending Sep 24, 2020

Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration