Although the long-term implications were still unknown, news of an explosion at the Freeport liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the Texas coast took a hatchet to natural gas futures midweek. The July Nymex gas futures contract – up about 30 cents at midday and not far off the $9.664/MMBtu intraday high – plummeted as low as $8.427 as the news broke.

At A Glance:

  • Freeport impacts still unclear
  • Outage could help lift storage stocks
  • Texas heat, power loads escalating

The prompt month eventually settled the day at $8.699, off 59.4 cents from Tuesday’s close. August futures tumbled 59.9 cents to $8.679.

Spot gas prices continued to move higher midweek, driven largely by suffocating heat stretching from the West Coast across the southern United States. NGI’s Spot Gas