Electricity and natural gas prices in the US climb to levels not seen in years due to extreme cold

Los electricity and natural gas prices In the United States, both in the Midwest and on the West Coast, soared to multi-year highs as extreme cold and snow blanketed much of the country, freezing oil and gas wells and causing pipeline restrictions and limiting the flow of gas to California.

The gas production was on track to fall about 4.7 billion cubic feet a day in the past three days, to a preliminary seven-month low of 94.3 million cubic feet a day on Thursday, as frost blanketed much of the country, triggering the well freezing in Texas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

That would be the biggest daily drop in output since the February 2021 freeze, when winter storm Uri cut through the Texas gas supply and forced the state power grid operator to impose rolling power outages.

One billion cubic feet is enough gas to power about five million American homes for one day.

In Northern California, the gas prices for Thursday at PG&E Citygate hit a record $56 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), surpassing the all-time high of $53 recorded in December 2000, according to Refinitiv data.

Gas on the Southern California (SoCal) Border rose to $48 per mmBtu, its highest level since hitting a 22-month high of $50 last week. The prices in SoCal they hit a record $136 during the February 2021 freeze.

This puts PG&E gas on track to hit an average of $9.21 per mmBtu by 2022, which would be its highest level since hitting an annual record of $8.62 in 2008, according to Refinitiv data going back to 2000.

The SoCal Border, for its part, is heading for an average of $8.95 per mmBtu in 2022, which would surpass its current annual record of $6.29 in 2021.