|
CNBC'S MOST SHARED
- 'We're in the Middle of a Crash': Black Swan
- The Rising Mountain of Debt May Be the Next Crisis
- Latvian Banker Taking Souls as Collateral
- SEC May Reinstate Rules for Short-Selling Stocks
- Your First Move For Monday July 6th
- Malaysia PM Speaks to CNBC
- Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Will Resign
- Cuddle Parties Heat Up
- The Worst Expected 2010 State Budget Gaps
- Schwarzenegger Signals Key Budget Concession
- Palin's Resignation May Hurt Her Future
- North Korea Fires 7 Missiles Off East Coast
- The Rising Mountain of Debt May Be the Next Crisis
- Drug Bust Nets Heroin Stuffed in Build-A-Bear Toys
- For Banks, Wads of Cash and Loads of Trouble
- SEC May Reinstate Rules for Short-Selling Stocks
- Vatican Runs Deficit Amid Economic Crisis
- Earnings Season: A Likely Game-Changer
- Fireworks At Pharma's Market
- Value of Warren Buffett's Annual Gift to Gates Foundation Falls Along With Berkshire's Stock
- Michael Jackson: The Music And The Money
- Five Stock Picks for This Market
- Realities of the New Obama Refis
- Weak Dollar Means Gold at $1,040: Strategist
- Court Ruling Could Mean Trouble for TiVo
- Lance, Please Back Out Of Tour
- TeleMedicine Gets An Apple App Store Facelift
Text Size 
U.S. natural gas inventories could be at seriously low levels at the start of winter this year, if current rates of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports remain at record lows, a Goldman Sachs report said Wednesday.
The year is already two months into the summer re-fill season when producers traditionally stock up on cheap gas volumes to sell on more profitably in winter, but so far storage facilities have gone unused as prices remain high.
More so, ongoing weakness in US natural gas prices compared with prices in the rest of the world is providing no incentive for LNG cargoes to be directed to the US, leaving imports at record-low levels.
"The US still needs to increase LNG imports and incentivize some fuel switching away from natural gas towards residual fuel oil to bring nat gas inventories to full levels by end of October," the report said.
To achieve higher imports the bank says Nymex natural gas futures futures, currently trading at 28-month highs of more than $11.10 per million British thermal units, will need to rise further to close the gap with international gas prices and the rest of the oil complex in coming months.
If prices fail to rise, it will be hard for U.S. natural gas inventories to reach full levels by the end of the summer, the report said. And U.S. supply could come under pressure if this winter is as severe as 2007, the coldest in 7 years.
Goldman raised its US domestic production outlook for the year by 300 million cubic feet per day, but adds any increase will be offset by an increase in expected U.S. pipeline exports, keeping the supply balance tight.
Print
Email
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes