The US natgas price has fallen on the market due to rumors that Freeport LNG in Texas will shut down
The price of U.S. Natural Gas Futures declined on Tuesday, as market speculation spread that the Texas export facility of U.S. company Freeport LNG would be shut down.
Freeport officials declined to comment.
Freeport is one the most closely monitored LNG export plants around the world, as the start and end of its operations can cause large price swings on global gas markets.
Gas prices in the U.S. typically drop when flows to Freeport decrease due to the lower demand from the export plant for the fuel. Prices in Europe tend to increase because of a reduction in LNG supplies to global markets.
Gas prices in the U.S. fell by about 3% Tuesday.
According to data provided by financial firm LSEG, before the rumored gas outage, Freeport's gas flow was expected to reach 2.0 bcfd Tuesday, which is the same average for the last seven days.
Three liquefaction plants at Freeport can convert about 2.1 billion cubic feet per day of gas to LNG.
A billion cubic feet of natural gas can supply 5 million U.S. households for one day. Reporting by Scott DiSavino, Liz Hampton and Erwin Seba from Houston and Curtis Williams in Denver; editing by Leslie Adler & Nia Williams
(source: Reuters)
