Natural Gas News – May 5, 2022

Natural Gas News – May 5, 2022

Global Natural Gas Crunch Amplifies U.S. Refining
A global shortage of natural gas is giving U.S. fuel makers an edge over European rivals. Refiners rely on natural gas as a crucial source of heat to distill crude oil into products such as diesel and gasoline. In the U.S., gas prices have more than doubled over the past year to top $8 per million British thermal units. But that still pales in comparison to the $32 European users have to pay. Because the world is short of fuel, global prices for gasoline and diesel need to be set at levels that allow European refiners to keep running even as they outspend. That means the higher the gap is between natural gas prices in Europe and the U.S., the more profits American refiners such as Valero Energy Corp. will reap by supplying their products, everything else remaining …

Natural Gas Prices Have Soared to a 14-year High

Add natural gas to the list of commodities in the U.S. whose prices are surging. Costs for the fossil fuel, which is used for heating and electricity as well as to produce plastics and petrochemicals, this year jumped to a 14-year high. The spot price for natural gas at the Henry Hub — a U.S. benchmark — crossed $8 per thousand cubic feet this week, its highest level since 2008. “These prices are unsustainably high,” said Pavel Molchanov, an analyst with investment bank Raymond James. At their peak, natural gas prices averaged $4.40 per thousand cubic feet in 2008 and 2014, while diving to $2.10 at its low point in 2020. By that measure, the current price is “definitely off-the-charts high, and that’s not going to persist forever,” Molchanov said. A drop in the U.S. supply of natural gas …