NYMEX NatGas Futures Rocketship: Up 57% in 2 Days, Break $5 Today?
For the second day in a row, the “front month” NYMEX natural gas futures contract was firmly attached to a rocketship. Yesterday, the NYMEX contract for February delivery gained 96.80 cents per million British thermal units (MMBtus), or 24.78%, to close at $4.8750. That’s up $1.772 (or 57%) over the last two trading sessions. It is the largest two-day dollar gain since Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022 (four years!). Early trading this morning was hovering between $5.35 and $5.50. It’s all to do with the current Arctic freeze in the eastern half of the country and a massive snowstorm due this weekend. But, bear this in mind: What goes up must come down. Read More “NYMEX NatGas Futures Rocketship: Up 57% in 2 Days, Break $5 Today?”
Based on the fourth quarter 2025 earnings call transcript and the accompanying press release, Kinder Morgan (KMI) reported record financial results driven largely by its natural gas business. While much of the growth came from the Gulf Coast and Southeast, several updates were specifically relevant to the Marcellus and Utica shale regions and the pipeline projects that transport Marcellus/Utica molecules. We’ve sifted through the release and earnings call to bring you the latest updates that impact the M-U region. 
Gulf South Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of Boardwalk Pipelines, announced the launch of an open season for new natural gas storage capacity at its flagship Petal Gas Storage complex in Mississippi. In addition to the Petal open season, Boardwalk also highlighted significant expansion potential across two cornerstone assets: Choctaw Storage in Louisiana and the Midland Storage Complex in Kentucky. All three storage facilities are used to store Marcellus/Utica molecules. 
Last Friday, the Trump administration officials joined several governors from the 13 states that are part of the PJM Interconnect grid to outline a broad plan they say will ensure customers of the grid will not face skyrocketing electric prices due to new AI data centers getting built in the region (see 
There are two universal, unavoidable truths of life: (1) death, and (2) Democrats love to tax anything and everything. Pennsylvania Democrats are urging state lawmakers to tax data centers to shield residents from rising energy bills. During a hearing held by PA House Democrats on January 20, so-called experts argued that data centers must “pay their own way” for grid upgrades necessitated by their high demand, rather than passing those costs to households. With grid operator PJM Interconnection warning that surging demand could cause blackouts, Democrats proposed legislation to protect ratepayers from price spikes. Although some officials value the industry’s job creation, tax proponents insist that ordinary consumers should not subsidize the infrastructure needed to support the state’s expanding and energy-intensive digital industry. 
As data center operators have sought rapidly deployable power sources for their facilities, some have turned to companies that modify jet engines for commercial power generation. Data center facilities in Texas have recently deployed modified jet engines as generators, each with 48 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity. There’s a whole “graveyard” of retired military aircraft at the U.S. Air Force’s facility on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, called the Boneyard. Could the old/retired jets at the Boneyard be repurposed to power data centers? Quite possibly! 
Global LNG markets are entering a transitional phase in 2026, characterized by a projected 10% supply surge as major U.S. and Qatari projects come online. This influx ends post-Ukraine war tightness of supply in the LNG market and will likely depress global prices to under $10 per mmBtu. Lower prices are expected to stimulate demand recovery in price-sensitive markets like China and India, while Europe increases imports to phase out Russian gas and replenish inventories. Although supply abundance benefits consumers, narrowing price spreads will likely squeeze U.S. export margins. Consequently, the industry is shifting toward ample availability and reshuffled trade flows through 2029. 
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