US Gas Prices Plummet Amid Global Shortages
As global natural gas prices surge due to the Iran war, the US is enjoying an unprecedented gas glut. In the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico, drillers have extracted so much gas that it exceeds available pipeline capacity, forcing producers to pay buyers to take it off their hands.
The phenomenon has driven Permian gas prices below zero, with a record low of $-9.60 per million British thermal units on April 24. In contrast, European and Asian gas futures are trading at about six times that level, feeding directly into global inflation and pushing up the cost of electricity, heating, and manufacturing.
US benchmark futures have slipped 10% since the Middle East conflict began, whereas Europe's prices have surged about 40%, and Asia's prices have jumped more than 50%. The US divergence from global gas prices could prove beneficial for domestic industry, particularly in manufacturing, chemicals, fertilizers, electricity, and power-hungry industries such as AI.
US petrochemical producers like Dow Inc. are benefiting from low-cost industrial gas, an essential feedstock for chemicals manufacturing. Cheap gas is also putting downward pressure on the cost of electricity, which could aid the buildout of data centers and help assuage concerns about soaring electricity costs tied to the AI boom.