On 7th July, the Natural Gas transmission pipeline exploded in Houston, raising the prices of Natural gas in the global market. Benchmark US Natural Gas price elevated to USD 6 per MMBtu as observed the previous week. Natural Gas prices have eased out from the recent hike since the Freeport LNG export terminal halted its operation in early June due to a fire. Force Majeure will likely continue till September, and the prices slipped from the record high as more gas would be now available for domestic consumption.

On 4th July, Gazprom proposed switching to Rubles to pay for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) cargoes. Some energy companies voluntarily make payments via Russian bank accounts, and all those denied are in line with EU sanctions.

Norway’s authorities have approved an application to increase the production of Natural Gas from several Gas fields. Natural Gas and LNG prices in the European region have increased after Russia slashed gas deliveries in the middle of June to the major producers of Germany and Itlay.

With the week ending on 6th July, at the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) in the Netherlands, the prices rose to USD 9.56 per MMBtu with a weekly average of USD 47.99 per mmBtu. However, the NYMEX gas futures decreased from USD 6.49 per MMBtu to USD 5.51 per MMBtu.

As per ChemAnalyst, the price of Natural Gas in the global market will decrease in the forthcoming week due to surging production capacities and affected LNG exports due to the explosion in the LNG terminal. Stable demand and tepid market sentiments also affected downstream Methanol and its derivatives market. In the Asian region, the prices of Methanol will slip further due to oversupplies and sufficient exports from Saudi Arabia and Iran. Fluctuation in Natural Gas and crude oil prices will affect the downstream market and hamper the costs of major Petrochemical products. Inventories among the manufacturing units will increase, affecting the sales and revenue of the producers.