US natural gas futures closed at $3.117 per MMBtu on Friday, down 3.2% on the week. Over the month the price is still up 7.8%, but it is 15.4% lower than at the end of last year. The 52-week range of $2.48 to $7.83 shows how volatile the market has been.
Investing.com’s technical note on Friday said the price had broken below its chart “cloud” indicator near $3.115. This is a chart observation and not a forecast.
A split between regional markets
OilPrice.com reported this week that a global LNG supply crunch has made Europe’s remaining coal-fired plants profitable, because gas supply costs have risen sharply, and that two start-up power suppliers in Germany are leaving the market as wholesale prices surge. Those stories describe the European market, where prices are set differently.
Henry Hub is the benchmark for US gas. It is influenced by weather, storage reports, domestic production and the capacity to export LNG. When export capacity is full, extra demand abroad cannot raise US prices as much, which can explain gaps between regional prices. We have not measured that gap here.
The natural gas page shows the live price and its history.