In the midst of the energy crisis in Europe, the spot price of natural gas in US West Texas fell into negative territory and colleagues paid people to haul it away as production increased in West Texas’ Permian Basin and the closure of terminals. of liquefied natural gas was hitting the gas supplies. .
The London Financial Times (FT) reported that S&P Global data showed that the price of natural gas for next day delivery in the Waha region of the Permian basin of Texas on the Intercontinental Exchange fell to minus $ 2. 25 per million British thermal units (Btu) Tuesday (25) For the first time since 2020.
By contrast, U.S. benchmark natural gas futures rose 7% to $ 5.585 per million Btu on the same day. European reference natural gas futures at 98 per MWh EURabout $ 28 per million Btu.
Industry analyst Stephen Schork said that, in practice, the industry is producing more gas than the pipeline can carry, so the industry has to pay someone to haul it away.
The Freeport LNG terminal on the Texas coast, one of the largest export facilities in the United States, was closed after a tragic collapse in June.
To make matters worse, this week’s repairs to the Gulf Coast Express and El Paso Natural Gas pipeline systems owned by Kinder Morgan will continue for several days, preventing the export of natural gas from the Permian basin.
It is not the first time that natural gas prices in the Waha region have fallen into negative territory: nine times in 2020 and 31 times in 2019. However, this time the price of natural gas in the Waha region has fallen into negative territory, as Europe has braced itself for a potential winter gas shortage as Russia reduced supply in response to Western sanctions.
