U.S. Natural Gas Demand Exceeds Supply As LNG Exports Jump

High export demand for LNG and higher domestic natural gas consumption pushed U.S. gas demand to higher levels than supply last year, resulting in the highest average Henry Hub spot price since 2008, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said in its 2022 State of the Markets report.

Yet, U.S. natural gas prices have dipped in recent months due to warmer than usual winter weather which required lower volumes of withdrawals from storage. As a result, working natural gas stocks in storage is around 24% more than the five-year average, and 36% more than last year at this time. This puts downward pressure on Henry Hub prices, which saw two consecutive cuts in price forecasts in two months from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).   Last year, the jump in natural gas prices globally after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis in Europe increased the call on U.S. LNG, whose exports rose by 9% to average 10.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), FERC and the EIA said in their 2022 overviews.