Market Insights > First Look

Oil Retreats Despite Ongoing Geopolitical Tensions; Gas Steady as Production Eases

Regional Market Insights

Updated regularly with the most important market moves and outlooks.

Natural gas prices are mostly unchanged, following last week’s decline
- The October Henry Hub contract fell 6c last week, with prices falling below $3/MMbtu
- Lower-48 temperatures are forecast to decline over the next two weeks, but remain near the ten-year average
- LNG feedgas demand fell to 15.3 Bcf/d as Cove Point LNG begins its month-long maintenance outage
- Gas production has dropped to 105.75 Bcf/d compared to last week’s average of 107.04 Bcf/d, according to S&P data
Midstream projects still challenged despite eased permitting (S&P)
- Despite a friendlier permitting environment in Washington DC, supply chain issues and litigation continue to plague midstream gas projects
- Since the start of the year, President Trump has issued multiple executive orders intended to speed up the permitting process for energy infrastructure
- However, the CEO of Boardwalk Pipeline Partners said, “We do think that schedules are shrinking in terms of permitting, but we’re also seeing expansion in schedules around supply chain-related issues,” as wait times for compressor parts and steel remain an issue
- Regarding current pipeline utilization and future demand growth, Toby Rice of EQT said, “We’re maxed out, so it doesn’t need to be a huge amount of demand that's going to set off a lot of big issues,”