Outlook—natural gas prices: FERC anticipates continued low natural gas prices

Abstract

Market conditions going into the winter are generally positive. Despite a 2.6 percent increase in natural gas demand this year, prices remain among the lowest in the past decade, due to continued production growth and new pipelines transporting gas from the producing areas to consumers. Gas-fired electric generation is benefiting from the lower gas prices, raising expectations for continued demand growth from this sector in the upcoming winter. As has been the case in past years, we can expect localized pipeline constraints in the Northeast during extreme cold weather periods, as growing gas power generation adds to peak gas demand for space heating.