LNG

Jan 11 (LNGJ) - The Henry Hub benchmark natural gas spot price averaged $2.51 per million British thermal units in 2016 and is expected to increase to an average of $3.55 per MMBtu in 2017 and $3.73 MMBtu in 2018, according to the last US government forecasts in the short-term energy outlook. “Higher average prices in 2017 reflect price increases in the second half of 2016 because of a hot summer and declining production, which reduced the inventory excess compared with the previous five-year average,” the report said. The power generation shares of coal and natural gas are expected to be roughly equal in 2017, as each fuel is projected to generate about 32 percent of US electricity.