US natgas prices slide 2% on near-record output, ahead of weekly storage report
UNG•Storm outages and LNG exports
Some 490,000 homes and businesses were still without power on Thursday after severe storms battered the U.S. Midwest earlier this week, down from over 729,000 Wednesday morning, according to data from PowerOutage.us. Depending on the length of those outages, the amount of gas burned to produce electricity could decline a bit this week.
Average gas flows to the nine big U.S. LNG export plants eased to 17.1 bcfd so far in August, down from 17.2 bcfd in July and a monthly record high of 17.4 bcfd in June.
The U.S. became the world's biggest LNG exporter in 2023, surpassing Australia and Qatar, as surging global prices fed demand for more low-cost U.S. gas.
Global gas prices have spiked in recent years primarily due to supply disruptions linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran this year.
