Henry Hub Natural Gas Spot Prices 2006

On February 8, the natural gas spot price at the Henry Hub had fallen 83 cents from last week, or nearly ten percent, to $7.88 per million British thermal units (mmBtu).  Temperatures that continued to be warmer than normal and falling crude oil prices contributed to the lower price this week.  Spot prices have been showing a downward trend.  As of this week, prices have fallen by $7.52 per mmBtu or nearly 49 percent since prices peaked on December 13, 2005, at $15.40 per mmBtu.  This Wednesday's price of $7.88 was $1.93, or 32 percent, above last year's level of $5.95.

Shut-in natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico was 1.554 billion cubic feet per day as of Wednesday, February 8, from its level on January 25 of 1.656 billion cubic feet per day.

The amount of natural gas in storage in the East Region decreased 2.2 percent to 1,319 billion cubic feet for the week ending February 3, which was 357 billion cubic feet above the 5-year average.  Nebraska is a part of the East Region (see map) which is a major natural gas consumer, particularly in the residential and commercial sectors.  The industrial sector, which includes agriculture, is also a major consumer in this state.  Most of the gas is supplied from the Producing Region with a fair amount imported from Canada.  The Henry Hub in southern Louisiana is a major market center with interconnections for many of the pipelines that transport U.S.-produced gas to the East Region.  Furthermore, the Henry Hub is the preferred reference point for prices for most of the domestic gas destined for the East.  Therefore, market conditions and developments in the East Region and price movements and trends at the Henry Hub are usually highly correlated.

Notes:  An archive is available.  Divide the price by ten (10) to obtain the price per hundred cubic feet (ccf) or the approximate price per therm.

Sources:  Natural Gas Weekly Update.   Energy Information Administration, Washington, DC.  Nebraska Energy Office, Lincoln, NE.

Note:  NA = Not available.

This table was updated on February 9, 2006.  Typically, there is one week between updates.

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