Natural gas spot prices in the U.S. increased in most locations in the week ending March 8, with the Henry Hub price rising 13¢ from last Wednesday, according to the weekly report by the Energy Information Administration.
The Henry Hub spot price rose 9¢ from $2.60/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.69/MMBtu two days ago, EIA said in its report published on Thursday.
“Although temperatures in the Southeast and along the Gulf Coast ended the report week somewhat colder, they were still well above seasonal norms,” EIA said.
The agency noted in the report that last year at this time, the Henry Hub price hit near record lows. On March 4, 2016, the Henry Hub price fell to $1.49/MMBtu, the lowest nominal price since 1998.
At that time, natural gas storage stocks were high because of mild winter weather and high levels of production, and the storage season ultimately ended with record high stocks, it added.
Spot prices at the Chicago Citygate increased 12¢ from last Wednesday to $2.80/MMBtu two days ago while prices at PG&E Citygate in Northern California gained 8¢ to $3.15/MMBtu two days ago.
Sabine Pass exports one cargo
Natural gas pipeline flows to the Cheniere’s Sabine Pass liquefaction terminal in Louisiana averaged 1.2 Bcf/d for the report week, 23% lower than in the previous week, EIA said.
One vessel with a capacity of 3.4 Bcf departed Sabine Pass last week, while one vessel with a capacity of 3.6 Bcf was loading at the terminal on Thursday.
According to a report by Platts, the reason behind lower Sabine Pass feed-gas volumes is the closure of the third liquefaction train since late February due to routine work as part of optimizing its functionality during the commissioning process.
Cheniere started exports from the Sabine Pass liquefaction plant, currently the only such facility to ship U.S. shale gas overseas, in February last year.
Exports from the plant continued to remain high in February following record high levels in the previous two months.
The Sabine Pass terminal exported twelve LNG cargoes in December and a record fifteen in January, and February, each.
LNG World News Staff