North America gas weekly update: Alpine Low

While the prospect of LNG shut-ins this summer is a potential casualty of low global prices, Apache’s disavowal of and write-down of its assets in the Alpine High are an all-too-real victim of low gas prices right now. Prompt Henry Hub almost touched the March 2016 low of $1.61/mmbtu before rebounding to a relatively better, but still disconcerting $1.80/mmbtu. Winter is coming to a close, and we expect withdrawals to fall off in the weeks to come, so even more pressure will be felt by LNG exports, production, and power to help normalize prices. But LNG faces the spectre of low global prices. Production needs to continue, or better yet, accelerate, its current declines, and in power generation, gas needs to continue to pick up what coal sets down.