Natural gas prices

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Natural gas prices are now strongly influenced by worldwide markets, since the development of large pipeline networks in North America, Europe and Asia and of long distance ocean shipment of liquified natural gas beginning in the 1960s.

Contents 1 Trends in natural gas prices 2 See also 3 Notes and references 4 External links

[edit] Trends in natural gas prices

The chart shows a 75-year history of annual United States natural gas production and average wellhead prices from 1930 through 2005. Prices paid by consumers were increased above those levels by processing and distribution costs. Production is shown in billions of cubic meters per year, and average wellhead pricing is shown in United States dollars per per thousand cubic meters, adjusted to spring, 2006, by the U.S. Consumer Price Index.^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}

Through the 1960s the U.S. was self-sufficient in natural gas and wasted large parts of its withdrawals by venting and flaring. Gas flares were common sights in oilfields and at refineries. U.S. natural gas prices were relatively stable at around (2006 US)$30/Mcm in both the 1930s and the 1960s. Prices reached a low of around (2006 US)$17/Mcm in the late 1940s, when more than 20 percent of the natural gas being withdrawn from U.S. reserves was vented or flared.

While supply interruptions have caused repeated spikes in pricing since 1990, longer range price trends respond to limitations in resources and their rates of development. As of 2006 the U.S. Interior Department estimated that the Outer Continental Shelf of the United States held more than 15 trillion cubic meters of recoverable natural gas, equivalent to about 25 years of domestic consumption at present rates.^{[6] [7]} Total U.S. natural gas reserves were then estimated at 30 to 50 trillion cubic meters, or about 40 to 70 years consumption.^[8]

[edit] See also

• Natural gas
• Liquified natural gas
• Energy economics
• Energy crisis
• Henry Hub

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^ Energy Information Administration (2005). Historical Natural Gas Annual. U.S. Department of Energy.
2. ^ Energy Information Administration (2005). Natural Gas Annual 2004. U.S. Department of Energy.
3. ^ Energy Information Administration (Apr 2006). Natural Gas Monthly. U.S. Department of Energy.
4. ^ Bureau of Labor Statistics (2006). Consumer Price Index. U.S. Department of Labor. National, All Urban Consumers, All Items, Averaged by Year.
5. ^ This article uses numeric conventions of the United States: "billion" = 1 000 000 000 and "trillion" = 1 000 000 000 000.
6. ^ Minerals Management Service (2006). Leasing Oil and Natural Gas Resources. U.S. Department of the Interior.
7. ^ Michael Janofsky (May 9 2006). As Cuba Plans Offshore Wells, Some Want U.S. to Follow Suit. New York Times.
8. ^ Overview of Natural Gas (2004). U.S. Natural Gas Resource Estimates. (U.S.) Natural Gas Supply Association.

[edit] External links

• Spot Natural Gas Price Quote Simple and quick site to get current natural gas price
• Texas Natural Gas Price Research Texas Natural Gas information and prices.