NGI Mexico GPI

Mexican natural gas prices held steady in July at just over 74 pesos/gigajoule (GJ) for a third consecutive month, while trading volumes continued climbing to reach a year-to-date high, according to the energy regulator.

September natural gas prices strengthened Tuesday as earlier indications of hotter weather to close out August became more clear in the latest weather model runs. The Nymex September gas futures contract settled 3.9 cents higher at $2.98.

What had looked like a routine trip to Panama for U.S. Treasury’s David Malpass, undersecretary for International Affairs, has unexpectedly pitched him into the frontline of trade tensions between the United States and China against a backdrop of Lower 48 liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to Central America.

Natural gas pipeline capacity into the U.S. South Central region, the epicenter of anticipated demand growth from Mexican pipeline imports and via U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, is expected to climb to 19 Bcf/d by the end of the year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Mexico has a “historical imperative to reverse” President Enrique Peña Nieto’s landmark 2013 constitutional energy reform, according to the country’s likely next hydrocarbons undersecretary, Alberto Montoya.

September natural gas prices held relatively steady Monday as traders grappled with cooler weather on tap for the week but much hotter temperatures to close out August. The Nymex September gas futures contract settled at $2.941, down a half-cent on the day.

The policy proposals and key government appointments made by President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador have provided a roller-coaster ride for Mexico’s energy industry and the analysts that follow it.

A U.S. firm has secured a long-term contract to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import project on the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, a region isolated from the country’s main energy transmission systems.

September natural gas prices posted an unusually sharp increase ahead of the weekend as weather forecasts that earlier in the week had shown signs of cooling dramatically changed course and now call for an amplified ridge that is expected to return quite a bit of heat to key demand regions before the end of the month. The Nymex September gas futures contract climbed 3.8 cents to settle at $2.946.