Natural Gas prices soar after Texas heatwave

Natural gas prices soared nearly 9% on Friday, although the weekly storage report showed little movement. Natural gas prices rose to $ 2,367 at 2:26 p.m. EDT, an increase of 8.48% or $ 0.185, although the EIA's weekly storage report a day earlier showed a small increase of 58 Bcf in working gas in storage. The market expected a bigger surge. Also bullish for natural gas on Friday were hot weather forecasts and reports of increased LNG exports. Natural gas futures for the front month period on Friday hit their highest level since late last year on that data as air conditioning usage is expected to increase as people try to cope with the heatwave. This will increase the demand for natural gas. This will be particularly the case in Texas, where demand for electricity in general - and consequently for natural gas - is likely to hit a record high today as the heatwave hits, according to Reuters. These record highs in electricity demand will be reached even if industrial activity has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. This unprecedented demand for electricity has caused electricity prices to rise in the western part of the United States, which in turn has driven up natural gas prices. On Friday afternoon, the previous month's futures for natural gas rose more than $ 0.15 to $ 2,335. LNG exports have also increased, with the demand outlook improving over the next several weeks, although the EIA stated that US LNG exports will remain low for the remainder of the summer, with scheduled shipments of LNG still being canceled become. According to the EIA data cited by Kallinish, 46 LNG cargoes were canceled in June, 50 in July, 45 in August and so far 30 for September.