Prices fell to $5.18 at the end of last week, which was the lowest price since November 2004. Hotter temperatures and high humidity over the weekend pushed demand for natural gas-fired power generation. Prices began increasing but remained six cents less than the price last Wednesday. On July 12, the Henry Hub natural gas spot price was $5.65 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), which was one percent less than the price of $5.71 last Wednesday. This Wednesday's price of $5.65 was $2.13 lower than the price of $7.78 per mmBtu on the second Wednesday in July, 2005.
The amount of natural gas in storage in the East Region increased 3.9 percent to 1,464 billion cubic feet for the week ending July 7, which was 324 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.
Day | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Note: NA = Not available. | ||||||||||||
1 | $8.71 | $6.62 | $6.54 | $6.24 | NA | NA | NA | NA | ||||
2 | Holiday | $8.00 | $6.69 | $6.68 | $6.23 | NA | NA | NA | ||||
3 | $9.91 | $8.01 | $6.59 | $7.05 | $6.56 | Holiday | NA | NA | NA | |||
4 | $9.25 | $7.02 | $6.46 | Holiday | NA | NA | NA | NA | ||||
5 | $9.23 | $6.88 | $6.80 | $6.41 | $5.71 | NA | NA | NA | ||||
6 | $9.28 | $8.26 | $6.49 | $7.05 | $6.16 | $5.28 | NA | NA | NA | NA | ||
7 | $7.73 | $6.53 | $6.80 | $5.82 | $5.18 | NA | NA | NA | NA | |||
8 | $7.88 | $6.48 | $6.54 | $5.85 | NA | NA | NA | NA | ||||
9 | $8.80 | $7.56 | $6.31 | $6.56 | $6.10 | NA | NA | NA | ||||
10 | $8.60 | $7.56 | $6.40 | $6.83 | $6.50 | $5.32 | NA | NA | NA | |||
11 | $8.55 | $6.99 | $6.81 | $5.52 | NA | NA | NA | NA | ||||
12 | $8.70 | $6.79 | $6.35 | $6.02 | $5.65 | NA | NA | NA | ||||
13 | $8.53 | $7.36 | $6.76 | $6.67 | $5.95 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | ||
14 | $7.03 | $7.14 | Holiday | $6.09 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | |||
15 | $7.31 | $7.10 | $5.92 | $6.43 | NA | NA | NA | NA | ||||
16 | Holiday | $7.16 | $7.12 | $5.99 | $7.04 | NA | NA | NA | ||||
17 | $8.81 | $7.38 | $7.17 | $7.22 | $6.16 | NA | NA | NA | NA | |||
18 | $8.85 | $7.61 | $5.78 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | ||||
19 | $8.21 | $7.72 | $5.77 | $6.71 | NA | NA | NA | NA | ||||
20 | $8.78 | Holiday | $7.00 | $7.96 | $6.62 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | ||
21 | $7.40 | $6.83 | $7.64 | $6.50 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | |||
22 | $7.54 | $7.07 | $5.90 | $6.51 | NA | NA | NA | NA | ||||
23 | $8.29 | $7.23 | $7.16 | $6.27 | $6.14 | NA | NA | NA | ||||
24 | $8.25 | $7.40 | $7.43 | $7.73 | $6.01 | NA | NA | NA | NA | |||
25 | $8.50 | $7.37 | $5.86 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | ||||
26 | $7.85 | $7.18 | $5.78 | $5.89 | NA | NA | NA | NA | ||||
27 | $8.18 | $6.97 | $7.06 | $6.93 | $5.97 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | ||
28 | $6.68 | $7.15 | $6.65 | $6.04 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | |||
29 | $7.16 | Holiday | $6.09 | NA | NA | NA | NA | |||||
30 | $8.35 | $7.18 | $6.21 | $5.83 | NA | NA | NA | |||||
31 | $8.73 | $6.98 | $5.97 | NA | NA | NA |
Sources: Natural Gas Weekly Update. Energy Information Administration, Washington, DC. Nebraska Energy Office, Lincoln, NE.
This report was updated on July 14, 2006.
Typically, there is one week between updates.