5 Best Natural Gas Stocks to Buy Right Now

Natural gas, like oil, is becoming a global market. This is due to the rapid increase in demand from places such as China. According to the International Energy Agency, that country will account for 40% of global demand growth through 2024. While China is a significant gas producer, the country is unable to meet its own demand. As a result, it is turning to LNG.

Meanwhile, the United States will account for the majority of the increase in global supplies in the coming years. By 2025, it will produce a quarter of all global gas and account for more than half of supply growth. This trend will benefit not only US gas producers, but also companies building pipelines and LNG infrastructure.

Cheniere Energy is a rising LNG leader.
Natural gas will play an important role in meeting global energy demand in the coming decades because it emits 45 to 55 percent fewer greenhouse gases than coal. According to that forecast, analysts expect the global LNG market to grow at a 4% annual rate through 2035. The rapid increase in LNG demand is driving the need for more export terminals, particularly in gas-rich countries like the United States.

EQT is the largest natural gas producer in North America.
The United States is on track to increase its natural gas output by more than 40% by 2030, or by an additional 38 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). The gas-rich Marcellus and Utica Shale plays will be major drivers of that growth. According to analysts at energy industry consultancy Wood Mackenzie, those two regions’ output will increase by 51% during that time period, adding 14 Bcf/d to their total.

That forecast plays right into the hands of EQT, which acquired Rice Energy in 2017 to become North America’s largest natural gas producer. This is due to the company’s dominant position in the heart of those two regions.

Kinder Morgan is the leader in gas infrastructure in North America.
To support the continent’s growth, the North American energy market must invest $23 billion per year in new natural gas infrastructure through 2035. More gathering and transmission pipelines, processing facilities, and LNG export terminals will be required by the industry.

While the natural gas industry will need to build new midstream infrastructure across the continent, much of it will be in Louisiana and Texas. This is because those two states will account for more than half of the increase in supply and 70% of the increase in demand between 2019 and 2030.

Royal Dutch Shell

The global natural gas behemoth Shell is a natural gas industry behemoth. In 2018, it was the world’s second-largest natural gas producer, trailing only Russia’s Gazprom. This output was generated by a diverse portfolio of sources, including conventional oil and gas fields, deepwater regions, and shale wells. While Australia is the company’s largest gas-producing region, it also has operations in Norway, Malaysia, the United States, and Canada.

However, what distinguishes it from the rest of the industry is its large-scale integrated gas operations. Shell generates natural gas, which it liquefies, sells to customers, and then transports via gas-carrying ships. Furthermore, it purchases LNG produced by others and sells it to customers at a premium price.

Williams Companies is strategically positioned for growth in the Northeast gas market.

Williams Companies is one of the largest natural gas pipeline companies in the United States, handling 30% of the country’s gas volumes. As a result, the company is well positioned to capitalise on the need for new natural gas infrastructure. Two assets in particular stand out as key drivers of the company’s growth.

For starters, Williams has a large natural gas gathering and processing footprint in the Northeast that supports Marcellus and Utica shale producers. These operations allow drillers to transport liquid-rich natural gas to processing plants that separate dry natural gas from natural gas liquids (NGLs). Williams can then transport the gas to the country’s interstate system.