Natural gas futures were trading higher in midday trading Monday as early indications showed the Gulf Coast avoided prolonged LNG terminal outages with the weakened Tropical Storm Beryl.
Here’s the latest:
- August Nymex natural gas futures up 5.3 cents to $2.372/MMBtu as of 2:32 p.m. ET
- Beryl, downgraded to a tropical storm, wallops Houston with storm surge, high winds
A relief rally had the August contract on track to end an eight-session losing streak, with trades ranging between $2.268 and $2.390.
Beryl was tracking north of Houston by midday after making landfall early Friday 40 miles southwest of the Freeport liquefied natural gas terminal on the Texas coast.
The Houston region’s CenterPoint Energy Inc. said 2.2 million customers were without power as of 1:56 p.m. ET. That’s the majority of the 2.7 million customers in Texas without power, according to U.S. Power Outages.
Independent forecaster Space City said Beryl maintained hurricane status “a bit longer than expected” and “the widespread wind gusts of 75 to 85 mph so far inland was really unnerving.”
Beryl was expected to move across the lower Mississippi Valley and Ohio Valley during the next couple of days until it dissipates, the National Hurricane Center said.
- Total flows to North American LNG terminals at about 11.1 Bcf/d for Monday, according to data from NGI’s U.S. LNG Export Tracker
Freeport LNG ramped down production ahead of the storm and intended “to resume operations once it is safe to do so,” a spokesperson told NGI. The terminal’s feed gas flows fell below 0.02 Bcf on Monday, NGI data show.
“It is unclear how long the facility could remain offline – best case scenario they would be able to ramp up late Monday if there is no damage to power infrastructure,” according to Criterion Research Inc. in an update on online energy platform Enelyst. “A more realistic scenario would see the terminal without power for a few days, barring any onsite damage that would lead to a lengthier outage.”
Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Corpus Christi LNG south of Beryl’s landfall was spared the brunt of the storm. The firm said LNG production at the facility was “uninterrupted.” Corpus Christi was scheduled to draw about 2.3 Bcf feed gas on Monday.
Cheniere’s Sabine Pass in Louisiana continued to maintain its normal pace after a June maintenance period, with 4.3 Bcf feed gas scheduled for Monday.
- Physical prices mostly higher from pre-holiday trading levels
- Waha averaging 31.5 cents, up $4.130 as West Texas prices lead gains, according to NGI’s MidDay Price Alert
- Henry Hub spot prices averaging $2.045, down 0.5 cents
The surge higher in Waha prices came after the hub averaged in the negative in seven of the last nine trading sessions. Permian Basin prices were supported by a heat wave forecast over much of its downstream consuming regions in the West over the next few days.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said a deep and well entrenched upper-level ridge stationed over the West was creating conditions for “extreme heat” with highs in the upper 90s to lower 110s representing 15- to 30-degree anomalies. The heat wave was expected to shift from California and Oregon north to Washington and east over the Great Basin through Arizona mid-week, NWS said.
While rain and power outages from Beryl were expected to lower electricity demand along its path across Texas into the country’s midsection, weekend weather model updates added demand and maintained “one of the hottest mid-July weather patterns on record,” NatGasWeather said.
