A roundup of news and commentary from NGI’s LNG Insight

  • U.S. natural gas prices declined this week following a rally that saw the Henry Hub contract hit a 13-year high of $8.065/MMBtu on Monday (April 18). Prices fell as traders took profit, but they could rebound on cold early next week and the “impending May contract expiration,” according to EBW Analytics Group. The May contract closed at $6.534 on Friday.
  • Freeport LNG said it would restart Train 1 at its export terminal in Texas on Friday, according to a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The train has been offline since April 5, which has weighed on feed gas deliveries to U.S. terminals. 
  • The UK said it would allow payments for natural gas to Gazprombank, which is key to commodity transactions, until the end of May. The bank is sanctioned in the country, but not the European Union. Russia has instructed Gazprombank to exchange euro and dollar payments for natural gas into rubles.
  • The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Friday that China consumed a record high 35.5 Bcf/d of natural gas in 2021. More than half of the gas consumed was produced domestically, but EIA said the country also imported a record amount of pipeline gas and LNG.