Henry Hub Natural Gas Spot Prices 2006

This week's jump in natural gas prices was chalked up to high crude oil prices and increasing cooling demand.  The Henry Hub natural gas spot price leaped 93 cents per million British thermal units (mmBtu), or 14 percent, since last Wednesday to $7.72 on April 19.  This Wednesday's price of $7.72 was 71 cents higher than last year's level of $7.01 per mmBtu.

Shut-in natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico was 1.334 billion cubic feet per day as of Wednesday, April 19, down from its level on April 5 of 1.362 billion cubic feet per day.

The amount of natural gas in storage in the East Region increased three percent to 881 billion cubic feet for the week ending April 14, which was 380 billion cubic feet above the five-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 April 27, 2006.  Typically, there is one week between updates.

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