美国出口下降致天然气价格大跌

据油价网7月20日报道，周一，天然气价格下跌了近5％，由于美国液化天然气出口量下降有可能加剧库存，而库存已经大大高于五年平均水平。

截至美国东部时间下午4:27，天然气价格仅为1.636美元，下跌0.082美元，跌幅4.77%。

据EIA报道，在截至7月15日的当周，美国LNG出口下降，该周仅有4艘总承载能力为150亿立方英尺的船只离开美国。据FX Empire数据显示，这是自2016年底以来的最低出口量，当时萨宾帕斯（Sabine Pass ）LNG是美国唯一的LNG出口设施。

根据EIA的数据，去年这个时候，美国液化天然气出口设施的天然气输送量创下了纪录。今年，新冠疫情限制了清洁燃料的使用，截至7月10日的库存为31.78亿立方英尺，远高于五年平均水平。相比之下，去年同期的水平为25.15亿立方英尺，五年平均水平为27.42亿立方英尺。

但低油价并没有减少雪佛龙对总部位于休斯顿的能源生产商来宝能源(Noble energy)的兴趣。来宝能源在以色列的大型天然气项目Leviathan中拥有天然气业务。

雪佛龙（Chevron）首席执行官认为短期石油市场“阴云密布”。

雪佛龙首席执行官Mike Wirth在接受路透采访时表示，目前形势不容乐观。在大流行的发展轨迹上有太多的不确定性，有效疫苗的发展速度和政府试图控制风险的政策干预。这是一个流动的环境。我们预计经济和物价走势将不稳。

雪佛龙确实看到了对天然气的长期需求增长，但是这在很大程度上是由于人口增长和减少温室气体排放的推动。

郝芬 译自 油价网

原文如下：

Nat Gas Prices Crash As U.S. Exports Fall

The price of natural gas fell nearly 5% on Monday, as lower U.S. LNG exports threaten to exacerbate inventories, which are already significantly higher than the five-year average.

The price of natural gas was just $1.636 as of 4:27pm EDT, a drop pf $0.082 or 4.77%.

The EIA reported that U.S. LNG exports fell week over week for the week ending July 15, with just four vessels with a combined carrying capacity of 15 Bcf leaving the United States that week. This is the lowest volume since the end of 2016—a time when the Sabine Pass LNG was the only LNG export facility in the United States, according to FX Empire.

Last year at this time, natural gas deliveries to U.S. LNG export facilities were setting records, according to the EIA. This year, the pandemic is cramping the style for the cleaner fuel, and inventories are well above the five-year average, at 3.178 billion cubic feet as of July 10. That compares to the year ago levels of 2.515 Bcf, and the five-year average of 2.742 Bcf.

But the low prices did little to assuage Chevron’s appetite for Houston-based energy producer Noble Energy, who is embedded with natural gas in a major Israeli gas project, Leviathan.

Chevron’s CEO sees the near-term oil market as “cloudy”.

“The crystal ball is cloudy right now. There’s so much uncertainty on the trajectory of the pandemic, the rate of development of effective vaccines and government policy interventions to try to manage risk between here and there. It’s a fluid environment. We expect choppy economic and price activity,” Chevron CEO Mike Wirth said in an interview with Reuters.

Chevron does see long-term demand growth for natural gas, however, largely from population growth and the push to lower greenhouse gas emissions.