North America may see natural gas prices follow global onesIs $15 HH on the horizon?
https://boereport.com/2022/05/17/column-north-america-may-see-natural-gas-prices-follow-global-ones-a-frightening-taste-of-the-agony-developing-countries-are-facing/
If you think things are tough now, they will be unimaginable if North American gas prices get to even half of global levels. At $15/mmbtu or GJ, businesses start to close. Heating costs become paralyzing. These fuel costs aren’t “optional” in the sense that if gasoline prices get too high, we don’t take a 6-hour road trip.
Consider the comment in the BOE Report the other day from the head of the Western Equipment Dealers Association trade group, stating that “last winter’s heating bills were unsustainable.” Yikes, who’s gonna tell him. Last winter Henry Hub prices averaged $4.56 US/mmbtu. Forward prices for next winter are $7.83. The cost squeeze is going to be unbearable for many businesses.
With natural gas, whether for industrial or residential purposes, scaling back has serious consequences, either in industrial output or in the temperature of your home.
Global fuel shortages don’t always show up explicitly in lines at gas stations. They can show up quietly and more deadly in the form of shuttered businesses, unliveable utility bills, and soaring inflation for anything that relies on natural gas as an input. The potential problems are jaw-dropping in North America, and simply unthinkable in the developing world.
The divest fossil fuels campaign is bearing ghastly fruit. There will be nowhere to hide.