EIA: Spot Gas Prices to Plunge This Year
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest short-term energy outlook contains bad news for the U.S. natural gas industry.
The EIA said spot gas prices at the benchmark Henry Hub in Louisiana, U.S.A. would average US$3.53/MMBtu this year, down almost US$0.50 from the 2011 average. It said the Henry Hub price should rebound to US$4.14 next year.
The agency said natural gas use would drop 7% this winter due to warmer-than-normal temperatures. Gas inventories continue to set record highs; they ended December 2011 at 3.5 Tcf, about 12% above the same point a year ago.
The EIA predicted the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil to average US$100/bbl this year, US$5 higher than last year. It expects WTI prices to hit US$106 by the end of next year.
For more information: www.eia.gov
