Falling Natural Gas Prices Could Hurt Wyoming

Laramie, WY – Falling natural gas prices are starting to affect the state's revenue projections. The price of natural gas at hub in western Wyoming this week was 30 percent lower than the price in Southern California. Analysts expect to see state revenues slip accordingly in the second half of this fiscal year. State economic analyst Buck McVeigh says that after last year's hurricane season, the price in Wyoming shot up to 11 dollars per thousand cubic feet of gas. The current price is just a third of that level.
"The industrial users, because of the high prices, started curtailing their usage and we saw demand start dropping at the national level and with that, we started to see prices start declining shortly after the first of the year," McVeigh said. However, he pointed out that gas prices may go back up as winter weather creates more demand.