NGI Mexico GPI

Forecasts showing comfortable temperatures taking hold next month helped pressure natural gas futures prices lower Tuesday. In the spot market, large gains in West Texas still couldn’t lift the region completely out of negative territory following Monday’s unprecedented lows; the NGI Spot Gas National Avg. climbed 2.5 cents to $2.470/MMBtu.

Natural gas marketers in Mexico transacted 284 deals for a total average volume of 6.321 Bcf/d in February, up from 153 deals for 5.496 Bcf/d in the same month a year ago.

Natural gas futures finished close to even Monday as traders mulled looser balances on the one hand and a supportive storage deficit on the other. In the spot market, West Texas discounts shattered historical precedent as prices averaged well into negatives region-wide; the NGI Spot Gas National Avg. climbed 1.5 cents to $2.445/MMBtu.

Editor’s Note: NGI’s Mexico Gas Price Index, a leader tracking Mexico natural gas market reform, is offering the following column as part of a regular series on understanding this process, written by Eduardo Prud’homme. This is the third in the series.

Natural gas futures capped off the week on a down note Friday, dropping to the bottom of the recent trading range amid an underwhelming demand outlook in the near-term. In the spot market, shoulder season conditions inspired discounts throughout the Lower 48, while extreme weakness in West Texas prices improved marginally; the NGI Spot Gas National Avg. fell 6.0 cents to $2.430/MMBtu.

Argentina will this year again send natural gas to Chile from September to May, 2020, Chile’s energy minister Susana Jimenez said Wednesday; but by 2021, natural gas from Argentina will flow to its neighbor throughout the entire year, she said.

An on-target Energy Information Administration (EIA) storage report, along with a mix of bearish and bullish macro factors heading into the shoulder season, left the natural gas futures market stuck in neutral Thursday.

The pending completion of several natural gas infrastructure projects in Mexico should help accelerate the local market’s development, according to Talanza Energy Consulting’s David Rosales, midstream and downstream partner.

Recovering production volumes and weaker demand amid the transition to spring helped pressure natural gas futures lower Wednesday as the front month continued to bounce around a tight trading range.