On May 10, the Henry Hub natural gas spot price had fallen six cents per million British thermal units (mmBtu), or less than one percent, to $6.50 since last Wednesday. This Wednesday's price of $6.50 was 13 cents lower than the price of $6.63 per mmBtu on the second Wednesday of May 2005.
Shut-in natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico was 1.295 billion cubic feet per day as of Wednesday, May 3, down from its level on April 19 of 1.334 billion cubic feet per day.
The amount of natural gas in storage in the East Region increased 5.1 percent to 1,008 billion cubic feet for the week ending May 5, which was 400 billion cubic feet above the five-year average. Nebraska is a part of the East Region (see map) which is a major natural gas consumer, particularly in the residential and commercial sectors. The industrial sector, which includes agriculture, is also a major consumer in this state. Most of the gas is supplied from the Producing Region with a fair amount imported from Canada. The Henry Hub in southern Louisiana is a major market center with interconnections for many of the pipelines that transport U.S.-produced gas to the East Region. Furthermore, the Henry Hub is the preferred reference point for prices for most of the domestic gas destined for the East. Therefore, market conditions and developments in the East Region and price movements and trends at the Henry Hub are usually highly correlated.
Notes: An archive is available. Divide the price by ten (10) to obtain the price per hundred cubic feet (ccf) or the approximate price per therm.
