Bloomberg reported that natural gas fell below USD 4 per million British thermal units for the first time in more than 6 years as the worsening recession curbs demand for the factory and power plant fuel. Consumption of gas by manufacturers has dropped as they shut factories.

Natural gas for March 2009 delivery fell by 7.5 cents or 1.8% to USD 4.003 per million Btu on the New York Mercantile Exchange after dropping to USD 3.921, the lowest price since November 15th 2002. Gas futures have declined 29% this year and are down by 71% since reaching USD 13.694 per million Btu on July 2nd 2008.

Mr Phil Flynn senior trader at Alaron Trading Corporation said that "It is the economy. When we are making 58% fewer cars than we were 18 months ago and you talk about all the factories being shut down, there’s just no natural gas demand."

The Energy Department said that consumption by factories and power generators, the biggest gas consumers, may drop by 5.1% this year.

(Sourced from www.bloomberg.net)