There are the base-load power plants that run all the time and meet the bulk of normal electricity demand. And then there are the power plants that are only intermittently called into service when demand spikes. In the United States the majority of the plants used to meet “spiking” demand run on natural gas.
So you can imagine what something like the current heat wave now gripping much of the country does to electricity demand for air conditioning and to demand for natural gas.
In spite of the outage at the Freeport Texas liquified natural plant that has led to a backup in U.S. natural gas intended for export, today U.S. natural gas futures surged more than 10% to a five-week high. Weather forecasts call for much of the United States to remain under this heat dome–with the effects spreading eastward–for the next two weeks.
Front-month Nymex natural gas for August delivery closed up 10.2% today at $8.007 per million BTUs, its highest settlement since June 13 and up more than 47% so far this month.
The U.S. Natural Gas Fund ETF (UNG) closed up 7.32% today. Energy producers with natural gas exposure were also up. ConocoPhillips (COP) closed ahead 2.81% and Cheniere Energy (LNG) ended the day 2.88% higher.
Oil, on the other hand, closed lower. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. crude benchmark, ended down 1.88% on the day. International benchmark Brent crude was lower by 0.48%. The U.S. Oil Fund (USO) was off 0.49%. Oil-focused producers such as Pioneer Natural Resouces (PXD) trailed their natural gas peers with Pioneer gaining just 1.37% on the day.
