U.S. natural gas futures edged up on Tuesday after jumping 8% on Monday on record flows to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants and forecasts for colder weather and higher heating demand over the next two weeks than previously expected.

Front-month gas futures for February delivery in the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) rose 1.4 cents, or 0.4%, to $3.423 per million British thermal units (mmBtu).

In the cash market, average prices at the Waha Hub in the Permian Shale in West Texas fell into negative territory for the fourth time this year as pipeline constraints trapped gas in the nation’s biggest oil-producing basin.

Waha prices have averaged a negative 12 cents per mmBtu so far this year, compared with $1.15 in all of 2025 and a five-year average (2021-2025) of $2.88.

Daily Waha prices first averaged below zero in 2019. They did so 17 times in 2019, six times in 2020, once in 2023, a record 49 times in 2024, and 39 times in 2025.

SUPPLY AND DEMAND

Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 states slid to 109.4 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in January, down from a monthly record high of 109.7 bcfd in December.

Meteorologists projected weather across the country would remain mostly colder than normal through January 28 with the most frigid days around January 18-20.

LSEG projected average gas demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, would rise from 136.3 bcfd this week to 151.5 bcfd next week. Those forecasts were higher than LSEG’s outlook on Monday.

Average gas flows to the eight large U.S. LNG export plants rose to 18.8 bcfd so far in January, up from a monthly record high of 18.5 bcfd in December.

On a daily basis, LNG feedgas hit a record 19.5 bcfd on Monday on all-time high flows of 2.6 bcfd to Cheniere Energy’s 3.9-bcfd Corpus Christi plant in service and under construction in Texas. That topped the prior total daily record of 19.3 bcfd on December 4.

The U.S. became the world’s biggest LNG exporter in 2023, surpassing Australia and Qatar, as surging global prices fed demand for more low-cost U.S. gas, due in part to supply disruptions and sanctions linked to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Gas was trading around $11 per mmBtu at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) (TRNLTTFMc1) benchmark in Europe, a two-month high, and around $10 at the Japan-Korea Marker (JKM) (JKMc1) benchmark in Asia.
Source: Reuters