U.S. natural gas futures slid about 2% to a two-week low on Friday aspower generators burnedless gas after Hurricane Milton knocked out power to millions of homes and businesses in Florida.

The price decline came despitea decline in output so far this monthand forecasts for the amountof gas flowing to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants to increase onceCove Point in Maryland returns to service, which could happen any day now.

Front-month gas futures NGc1 for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 4.3 cents, or 1.6%, to settle at $2.632 per million British thermal units, their lowest close since Sept. 26.

For the week, the contract was down about 8% after sliding about 2% last week.

Hurricane Milton slammed into the west coast of Florida as a major storm Wednesday night and swept across the central part of the state on Thursday. The storm has now dissipated in the Atlantic Ocean.

There were still around 2.3 million customers without power in Florida from Milton on Friday, down from a high of around 3.4 million on Thursday.

There were also still about 66,000 customers without power in North Carolina and Georgia after Hurricane Helene moved inland after hitting Florida on Sept. 26.

In 2023, power generators in Florida burned a record 3.9 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd)of gas to keep the lights on for the state’s roughly 11.5 million power customers, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and PowerOutage.us.

That means every 1 million customer outages reduces the need to burn around 0.3 bcfd of gas on average.

SUPPLY AND DEMAND

Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states fell to 101.2 bcfdso far in October, down from 101.8 bcfd in September. That compares with a record 105.5 bcfd in December 2023.

That is because many producers reduced their drilling activities so far this year after average spot monthly prices at the U.S. Henry Hub NG-W-HH-SNL benchmark in Louisiana fell to a 32-year low in March. Prices have remained relatively low since then.

Meteorologists projected the weather in the Lower 48 states will remain mostly milder than normal through at least Oct. 26. But even though the weather will be mild, it is still turning seasonally cooler with the coming of winter.

With the seasonally cooler weather, LSEG forecast average gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, will rise from 96.2 bcfd this week to 96.8 bcfd next week and 98.2 bcfd in two weeks.

The demand forecasts for this week and next were similar to LSEG’s outlook on Thursday.

Gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants slid to an average of 12.4 bcfd so far in October, down from 12.7 bcfd in September. That compares with a monthly record high of 14.7 bcfd in December 2023.

That reduction was due mostly to the planned Sept. 20 shutdown of Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s 0.8-bcfd Cove Point LNG export plant in Maryland for around three weeks of annual maintenance.

That Cove Point outage could end soon. The company told customers it was seeking to purchase gas on Oct. 11, but also noted some gas flows would be restricted until further notice due to unplanned maintenance at the Pleasant Valley compressor station in Virginia.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Diane Craft)