NEWS
US natural gas near record on Katrina damage
London, Aug 30 (LNG journal)
- US natural gas futures prices were near record highs on Tuesday after Hurricane Katrina disrupted supplies and led to the temporary closure of the Henry Hub delivery point in Louisiana.
The Henry Hub, where much of the nation's natural gas is delivered to buyers, was among the facilities in the path of the hurricane that were shut down. Natural gas prices jumped 11 percent on Monday when the hurricane was at its peak.
The Henry Hub avoided serious damage, however, and was reopened, thus preventing a crisis in natural gas markets. Nonetheless, it will take several days to determine overall damage to the natural gas sector, officials said.
The New York Mercantile Exchange September natural gas contract was last at $11.68 per million British thermal units in Access electronic trading after reaching $12.07 on Monday, the highest since the NYMEX gas future began trading in 1990.
The natural gas futures contracts from December through to March, 2006, were all trading at more than $12 per MMBtu in Access trading.
Almost a third of US oil and natural gas facilities lay in the path of the storm in the Gulf of Mexico and southern Louisiana and Mississippi , and were shut down and evacuated over the weekend and Monday, according to the US Department of the Interior.
Damage from the storm to production equipment, refineries and platforms may take weeks to assess, officials said.
