The falling natural gas prices may open the door for cheap gas for world markets, as the U.S. prepares for LNG exports by the end of the year.  

According to energy experts, the U.S. gas exports overseas can wean Europe's dependency off Russian gas, and may capture the rising gas demand in Asian markets as well. 

Natural gas prices in the U.S. fell more than 50 percent and dipped to their lowest level since Sept. 2012 due to high domestic production and a strong inventory, said the U.S.' Energy Information Administration on Wednesday. 

Despite the cold winter weather, Henry Hub spot and futures prices of gas fell to $2.92 and $2.88 per million British thermal unit (per 28.32 cubic meters) respectively on January 26 - the lowest level in more than two years, the agency said. 

The fall in gas prices came after Henry Hub prices peaked to a monthly average of $6 per million British thermal units in February 2014 - a five-year high, said the administration. 

The recent price decline in gas prices marked more than a 50 percent fall in less than a year. 

The agency said that although gas inventories fell by 162 billion cubic feet (4.54 billion cubic meters) towards the end of November, natural gas stocks increased to 2,637 billion cubic feet (73.84 billion cubic meters) on Jan. 16, according to the U.S. agency's Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report released on Jan. 22. 

Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass project in Louisiana will kick off the U.S.' LNG exports when completed by the end of 2015. 

In addition, Dominion Resources' Cove Point LNG project in the state of Maryland, Carib Energy’s facility in Florida, and Sempra Energy’s Cameron LNG facility in Louisiana are the other terminal projects to export LNG to world markets. 

By Ovunc Kutlu

Anadolu Agency

ovunc.kutlu@aa.com.tr