Winter of discontent for US gas producers

It hasn’t felt much like winter in many parts of the US thanks to El Nino, and that has helped push natural gas prices to their lowest level in more than a decade

Henry Hub spot prices fell to $1.65 per million British thermal units (Btu) on 15 December, the lowest level in 16 years. Prices are even lower in the northern US, where the gas glut remains and the usually frigid winters have yet to arrive. In New England natural gas prices were $1.50/million Btu and in the Mid-Atlantic prices have fallen to just $0.91/million Btu. Traders are nervous that warm weather will mean that brimming storage levels remain elevated through the end of winter. Natural gas inventories hit new heights of 4 trillion cubic feet (cf) in the weeks leading up to the cold season. And what is likely to be the warmest December on record in the US has done little to reduce those