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Natural Gas Futures Soar! Heatwave Warnings Can't Beat the "Negative Price" Phenomenon. ⑴ U.S. natural gas futures prices rose about 2% on Wednesday (Beijing Time), hitting an eight-week high. This was primarily due to recent declines in daily production and higher-than-predicted demand expectations for the next two weeks. The current month natural gas futures contract rose 4.52 cents, or 1.5%, to $3.148 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), on track for its highest closing price since July 22. ⑵ Meanwhile, in the spot market, natural gas prices at the Waha Hub in the Permian shale play of West Texas fell into negative territory for the second time this week. This is due to pipeline maintenance, such as that on Kinder Morgan's El Paso pipeline from Texas to California, which has left natural gas stranded in the nation's largest oil-producing basin. This is the seventh time this year that Waha prices have fallen below zero, significantly lower than the average levels of $1.64 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2025, 77 cents in 2024, and $2.91 over the past five years (2019-2023). Notably, the Waha price first fell below zero in 2019, with 17 such occurrences that year, six in 2020, one in 2023, and a record 49 in 2024. (3) On the supply side, natural gas production in the lower 48 states has fallen to 107.4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) so far this month, down from a record 108.3 Bcf/d in August. Wednesday's daily production is expected to fall to a two-month low of 106 Bcf/d, primarily due to pipeline maintenance in Texas, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, among other factors. Nevertheless, this decline is smaller than expected on Tuesday. Record production earlier this year allowed energy companies to pump more natural gas into storage than usual. The amount of natural gas currently in storage is approximately 6% higher than at this time of year, and this proportion is expected to continue to grow in the coming weeks. (4) Weather forecasts indicate that temperatures will remain above normal until at least October 2nd. However, this late-season "heat wave" is unlikely to significantly increase natural gas demand, as it will likely reduce the typical increase in heating demand during this period rather than significantly increase the amount of natural gas burned by power plants to power air conditioning. The agency forecasts that daily natural gas demand in the lower 48 states, including exports, will increase from 102.6 billion cubic feet per day this week to 103.4 billion cubic feet per day next week, higher than expected the previous day. Furthermore, daily natural gas deliveries from major U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals fell to 15.7 billion cubic feet per day this month, down from 15.8 billion cubic feet in August. Berkshire Hathaway Energy's Cove Point LNG plant in Maryland is also scheduled to shut down soon for approximately a month of annual fall maintenance.