EQT CEO sees natural gas prices remaining below $3/mmBtu
HOUSTON, Sept 18 (Reuters) - The CEO of U.S. natural gas producer EQT Corp on Wednesday said U.S. prices for the fuel will remain below $3 per million British thermal units in the short term.
As prices fell to multi-year lows earlier this year, EQT curtailed 1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of its gas output. Several rival U.S. shale gas producers also cut drilling to stem over production.
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Toby Rice, CEO of the largest U.S. gas producer, said at the Gastech energy conference that he expects production curtailments to ease by next year as demand for U.S. liquefied natural gas exports rise.
U.S. gas futures NGC1 fell 4 cents on Wednesday to settle at $2.284 per million Btus.
Rice, whose company has agreements with LNG developers Texas LNG and Commonwealth LNG, said demand for natural gas to feed LNG exports and fuel power plants "has never been more important."
He said the U.S. needs to allow market forces to dictate the fuel mix, criticizing what he called political forces hampering gas development.
"We need to get back to a place where the most affordable, most reliable, cleanest energy finds its way to the marketplace," said Rice. "The political forces needs to take a backseat."
(Reporting by Georgina McCartney and Marianna Parraga; editing by Gary McWilliams)