NGI Mexico GPI

Forecasts may be frosty in the days leading up to Christmas, but a lack of reinforcing cold shots seen in the days after sent natural gas prices barreling lower Wednesday. The Nymex January gas futures contract finally broke out of its recent trading wedge as it plunged 27.1 cents to settle at $4.136. February tumbled 22.3 cents to $4.035, and March dropped 18.8 cents to $3.853.

Mexico’s Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos (CNH) confirmed on Tuesday it has canceled onshore bid rounds 3.2 and 3.3, and it has postponed for six months a farmout tender for stakes in acreage held by national oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex).

Natural gas futures sold off across the winter strip Tuesday as markets awaited further clues on the timing and strength of a potential return to colder temperatures later this month. In the spot market, prices sold off across most of the Lower 48 on expectations for milder national demand over the next few days, though points in volatile New England lurched higher; the NGI Spot Gas National Avg. fell 8.0 cents to $4.545/MMBtu.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador affirmed over the weekend plans to shift course at state power utility Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE).

Despite trading in the negative early Monday, the possibility of cold weather returning to the United States around Christmas was enough to send natural gas futures prices nearly 18 cents higher by midday. The Nymex January gas futures contract eventually went on to settle up just 5.7 cents at $4.545, while February slipped 1.8 cents to $4.360 and March slid 1.9 cents to $4.136.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Wednesday that he will offer a three-year “truce” to oil and gas companies that won exploration and production (E&P) contracts through bid rounds under his predecessor, Enrique Peña Nieto.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s first week in office saw several developments that hold major implications for the energy sector.

Natural gas traders were not taking any chances in holding short positions on Friday given continuously fluctuating weather forecasts. The Nymex January gas futures contract rocketed 16.1 cents higher to settle at $4.488, while February climbed 16.1 cents to $4.378 and March rose 23.1 cents to $4.155.

Despite the fact that Mexico’s new president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has been critical of the country’s increasing reliance on hydrocarbons imports, the recently signed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) should benefit burgeoning cross-border energy trade.