natural gasPrices fluctuated at least 7% within 44 days last year, the biggest change since the early 1990s. Natural gas price changes will not slow down in the short term and have become the norm, affecting manufacturing and home heating costs.
wall StreetThe Daily News reported on the 15th that homeowners and businesses across the United States have found that natural gas prices are rising, but there is no short-term solution to the situation.
2022 will be the most volatile year for natural gas prices. Manufacturing spending such as domestic heating, power generation, and steelmaking will increase rapidly. Prices will rise from the bottom to new highs and then fall back.
The benchmark price for natural gas futures fluctuated at least 7% over a 44-day period last year, the biggest move since the early 1990s, when gas markets were deregulated.
Natural gas prices have continued to fluctuate this year, with 12 daily swings greater than 7 percent, and traders have found it difficult to determine why price changes have been so drastic.
analystTraders and bulk buyers of natural gas expect volatility to become the new normal as the shutdown of coal-fired power plants and conversion to wind and solar plants encourage utilities to pay more for natural gas; Infrastructure is being built to export natural gas, but progress on domestic gas pipeline projects is slow.
With the shutdown of coal-fired power plants, many utilities have no choice but to purchase natural gas to keep their machines running; Manufacturers say the cost of making bread, bottles, aluminum, cement, plastic pipes, toothbrushes and pet food has gone up.
“We have lost that advantage in the past with coal-fired power generation as leverage against natural gas prices, and coal-fired power generation is shrinking,” said Matthew Hoja, director of US electricity markets at data analytics firm FactSet. Has gone.”
In addition, last year’s Russian invasion of Ukraine rattled global energy markets, and European buyers sought alternative sources of Russian supply, leaving US gas prices more directly linked to international events.
On Wall Street, price-trend-following trading programs dominate commodity exchanges, increasing volatility, and algorithms can reverse the positions of large numbers of investors on any given day to cause market shifts.
The dramatic ups and downs in natural gas prices have affected many sectors. This winter, natural gas prices in California were more than six times the national benchmark price. An unusually warm February at various places caused prices to fall below 20-year limits.
The Labor Department said on Monday that a sharp drop in natural gas prices in February weighed on US energy spending in January and helped ease overall inflation. Natural gas producers are currently cutting output to prop up prices, but analysts warn prices could rise again if this summer is particularly hot.
US
