Even if natural gas prices spike in the short-term, the natgas market and related exchange traded funds will continue to suffer from a supply glut as the shale industry continues to pump out oil.
The United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSEArca: UNG) has declined 43.0% over the past year as abundant supplies weigh on the market.
The U.S. energy industry is extracting so much natural gas that large quantities are being burned off on extraction sites to make way for oil production, and it is only expected to get worse, the Wall Street Journal reported.
An estimated 5.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas was flared or burned off world-wide in 2018 – the equivalent to the combined consumption of France, Germany and Belgium – and the U.S. is now the number four largest flarer of gas behind Iran, Iraq and Russia.
