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Natural gas cash prices in West Texas, which dipped below zero in recent days, sank to the lowest in almost 14 months, as traders expect pipeline maintenance in the area to stifle movement of the fuel for some time.
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Gas for next-day delivery at the Waha hub in the prolific Permian region remained negative Monday although recovered from a multi-month low last week, according to traders familiar with intraday prices, which were not publicly available. Prices Friday fell to around negative $3.03 per million British thermal units, the lowest since November 2024. This comes after Kinder Morgan Inc. shut part of its El Paso and GCX pipelines due to maintenance. The company’s Permian Highway pipeline is scheduled to undergo maintenance next month.
Growing production in the Permian, far from Gulf Coast and Southern California demand, means that gas drillers are at the mercy of pipelines, which don’t have enough capacity for the current volume of supply.
Kinder Morgan declined to comment outside of its pipeline filings posted online.
While US liquefied natural gas exports have risen to record highs in recent months with new plants such as Plaquemines in Louisiana coming online, bottlenecks from pipeline outages can flood supply in the region, while other basins such as the Haynesville in Louisiana can supply the LNG export facilities along the Gulf Coast.
Prices in West Texas have dropped to negative amid lower seasonal demand for the fuel combined with strong production. That means producers are effectively paying buyers to take gas off their hands.
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— With assistance from Ruth Liao
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