Global Natural Gas prices Hit Their Lowest Level, and Bearish Stance Remains

Hamburg, Germany- Global Natural Gas prices continue to showcase a bearish market trend with lackluster demand and limited bids for fresh stocks. Natural gas prices have fallen to USD 2.30 per MMBtu ex-Louisiana in the US. Prices lost to gain momentum pressurized by persistent weak demand due to unprecedented mild weather and ample inventories among the storage units.

According to the US Energy Information Administration report, the US Natural Gas storage is at 1.9 trillion cubic feet, which is 36% higher year-on-year. Freeport LNG terminal is yet to come in full function. Even so, Freeport LNG unexpectedly canceled some cargoes due to a problem with one of its three liquefaction trains, raising fears that operations might take longer than expected. On 22nd March, the Natural Gas Henry Hub spot prices fell 40 cents to USD 2.04 per MMBtu. The NYMEX contract price for April 2023 decreased by 26.8 cents to USD 2.171/MMBtu.

In the European market, Natural Gas prices projected a weak trend with low benchmark futures for the forthcoming months. However, downstream industries are switching back to using the same feedstock, which is a promising sign that petrochemical ventures are increasing their demand. Nevertheless, the recovery in the industrial production units is slow. With the week ending on 24th March, the price of Natural Gas in Germany slipped to Euro 43.18 MW-hr Ex-Hamburg. Natural Gas futures at the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) in the Netherlands also fell to USD 13.14 per MMBtu with feeble trading fundamentals.

According to ChemAnalyst, the price of Natural Gas in the global market will remain lower in the forthcoming weeks of 2023. Short-term market sentiments are anticipated to remain feeble with deteriorating demand from downstream enterprises. The benchmark futures for the product in the global market will slump with the limited product demand and declining trading market fundamentals. A steep decline in the trading of Natural Gas will increase the stocks with rising storage tank costs, pressurizing the traders to clear their product inventories at negotiable rates.