WASHINGTON — The steepest rally in natural-gas prices since 2006 is coming to an end as the 400 salt caverns, depleted oil fields and aquifers used to store the fuel in the U.S. reach capacity for the first time.
Stockpiles might surpass the record of 3.545 trillion cubic feet by as much as 350 billion cubic feet this fall, Energy Department estimates show. With no place to go, producers will be forced to dump excess fuel on the market.
The worst economic slump since the 1930s will cut demand from chemical plants to carmakers to households by 2.4 percent this year, according to government estimates. The November futures contract will drop about 19 percent to near $4 per million British thermal units, said Stephen Schork, president of consultant Schork Group in Villanova, Pa.
Gas for November delivery fell 11.8 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $4.83 per million British thermal units Monday in New York. The October contract fell 25.5 cents, or 6.4 percent, to $3.73.
