Natural Gas Weekly Update

Today in Energy

Recent Today in Energy analysis of natural gas markets is available on the EIA website.

Market Highlights:

Prices

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)

• Pipeline receipts: Average natural gas deliveries to U.S. LNG export terminals rose 1.0% (0.2 Bcf/d) to end at 16.0 Bcf/d this week, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights. Natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Louisiana increased 2.6% (0.3 Bcf/d) to 10.6 Bcf/d, while natural gas deliveries to terminals in South Texas decreased 1.7% (0.1 Bcf/d), averaging 4.3 Bcf/d. Natural gas deliveries to terminals outside the Gulf Coast were essentially unchanged at 1.2 Bcf/d this week.
• Vessels departing U.S. ports: Twenty-seven LNG vessels with a combined LNG-carrying capacity of 104 Bcf departed the United States between July 3 and July 9, according to shipping data provided by Bloomberg Finance, L.P.: eight tankers from Sabine Pass; four each from Corpus Christi, Freeport, and Plaquemines; three from Cameron; two from Calcasieu Pass; and one each from Cove Point and Elba Island.

Rig Count

• According to Baker Hughes, for the week ending Tuesday, July 1, the natural gas rig count fell by 1 rig to 108 rigs. Haynesville added one rig, and one rig was added among unidentified producing regions. The Arkoma Woodford, the Barnett, and the Marcellus each dropped one rig. The number of oil-directed rigs fell by 7 rigs to 425 rigs, the 10th straight week of declines. The Barnett, Fayetteville, and Granite Wash each added one rig. The Permian dropped five rigs, Cana Woodford and Ardmore Woodford each dropped one rig, and three rigs were dropped among unidentified producing regions. The total rig count, which includes 6 miscellaneous rigs, now stands at 539 rigs, 46 fewer rigs than last year at this time.

Storage

• Net injections into storage totaled 53 Bcf for the week ending July 4, compared with the five-year (2020–24) average net injections of 53 Bcf and last year’s net injections of 61 Bcf during the same week. Working natural gas stocks totaled 3,006 Bcf, which is 173 Bcf (6%) more than the five-year average and 184 Bcf (6%) lower than last year at this time.
• According to The Desk survey of natural gas analysts, estimates of the weekly net change to working natural gas stocks ranged from net injections of 51 Bcf to 68 Bcf, with a median estimate of 60 Bcf.
• The average rate of injections into storage is 24% higher than the five-year average so far in the refill season (April through October). If the rate of injections into storage matched the five-year average of 7.7 Bcf/d for the remainder of the refill season, the total inventory would be 3,926 Bcf on October 31, which is 173 Bcf higher than the five-year average of 3,753 Bcf for that time of year.

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