As the hot weather stimulated energy demand, the imbalance between supply and demand in Europe further intensified, pushing up natural gas prices. According to media reports, affected by Russian supply concerns, European natural gas prices continued to rise last week, as of press time, European natural gas futures soared 20%.

According to media reports, Gazprom said recently that European natural gas prices could rise 60% this winter to more than $4000 per thousand cubic meters as a result of Western sanctions. Gazprom said its total gas exports fell by 36.2% from January 1 to August 15.

In addition, US natural gas prices have also risen sharply since July. On the supply side, total natural gas production in the United States is maintained at about 96 billion cubic feet per day, and supply growth is weak. On the demand side, the continuous high temperature causes the gas consumption of power generation to remain high. Except for the suspension of the free port production line, the rest of the LNG export facilities are operating at full capacity. The strong gas demand tightens the domestic supply and demand situation in the United States.

It is worth noting that American liquefied natural gas producers have made a lot of money in this wave of natural gas crisis.So which natural gas producers are worth paying attention to in this case?

• Cheniere Energy

$Cheniere Energy (LNG.US)$Is the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas in the United States.

Benefiting from Gazprom's alternative demand, Cheniere Q2's net profit turned to a profit of $741 million ($2.90 per share) from a loss of $329 million per share in the same period last year, while adjusted EBITDA rose 147 per cent to $2.53 billion and revenue rose 165 per cent to $8 billion.

Cheniere also disclosed a contract to sell 140 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas by 2050.The second increase in the full-year profit forecast:

The companyThe adjusted EBITDA for fiscal 2022 is expected to be $98-$10.3 billion, up from the previous estimate of $82-8.7 billion and well above analysts' consensus expectations of $8.85 billion. It also raised its forecast for distributable cash flow to $69 to $7.4 billion, up from $55 to $6 billion previously.

Cheniere basically signed long-term and fixed-fee LNG sales contracts, so the cash flow certainty is high. The company had expected to generate cumulative distributable cash flow of $10 billion by 2024, which would be used for dividends (launched at the end of 2021), share buybacks, debt repayment and funding requirements for the third phase of the Corpus Christi project. Cheniere's balanced capital allocation plan is expected to create great value for shareholders in the next few years.

Since the beginning of the year, Cheniere Energy has risen by more than 64%.

• EQT energy

$EQT Corp (EQT.US)$Is the largest natural gas producer in the United States.

EQT is committed to the integration of the natural gas industry. The company bought Chevron Corp's Appalachian basin assets for $735 million in 2020 and Alta Resource Development for $2.925 billion in 2021. These deals have boosted the company's capacity, size and free cash flow.

EQT expects the company to generate more than $10 billion in free cash flow by 2026, some of which will be used to repay $1.5 billion of liabilities due in 2023, and much of the remaining cash will be used for shareholder-friendly activities such as dividends, share buybacks and acquisitions. At the end of 2021, the company authorized a $1 billion share buyback, resumed dividends and plans to raise dividends in the coming years.

Goldman Sachs Group said the company would benefit from a favorable long-term outlook for natural gas and that the stock had the potential to be rerated as its balance sheet improved further and more free cash flows were allocated to capital returns.

Since the beginning of the year, EQT has risen by more than 121%.

• Kindell Morgan

$Kinder Morgan (KMI.US)$It is the leading energy infrastructure company in North America and controls the largest natural gas transmission network in the United States.In addition, Kinder Morgan is the largest independent transporter of refined petroleum products, independent terminal operator and carbon dioxide transporter, producing oil, renewable natural gas (RNG) and liquefied natural gas.

Acquisitions are an important driver of the company's growth. Kinder Morgan recently bought North American Natural Resources (North American Natural Resources) and its seven landfill gas power plants in Michigan and Kentucky for $135 million.

Kinder Morgan said the company would make a final investment decision to convert up to four of the seven landfill gas power plants into renewable natural gas facilities with a capital expenditure of about $175 million. Pending a final investment decision, the facilities are expected to be operational in early 2024, when they will generate about 2 billion cubic feet of renewable natural gas per year.

Kinder Morgan's cash flow is very stable, with 94% of its cash flow coming from non-negotiable contracts, other fee agreements or hedges, and free cash flow of more than $4 billion a year. The cash is mainly used to pay dividends, buy back shares, and expand the natural gas network through capital projects and acquisitions. The company's inventory expansion projects reached $1.4 billion in early 2022, of which about 45 per cent was natural gas-related infrastructure.

Since the beginning of the year, Kinder Morgan has risen by about 23%.

• Tellurian

$Tellurian (TELL.US)$Mainly engaged in natural gas production and natural gas project investment.Last June, Tellurian signed a 10-year agreement with Victor, the world's largest private oil trader, to supply 3 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year.

In April, Tellurian reached an agreement to sell an additional $200m of common shares to T.R.Winston&Company LLC, which plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes. Tellurian had previously been licensed to export 27.6 million tons of LNG from its Driftwood plant in Louisiana and is raising its own funds to start the $12 billion project.

It should be noted that Tellurian's market capitalization is small, about $2.6 billion, and there is a risk of high share price volatility and illiquidity.

Since the beginning of the year, Tellurian has risen by about 42 per cent.

• Chesapeake Energy

$Chesapeake Energy (CHK.US)$Was the pioneer of the American shale revolution and was once the second largest natural gas company in the United States.But he was declared bankrupt because of a debt crisis during the outbreak.

Last February, Chesapeake emerged from bankruptcy and shifted from brutal expansion to a capital constraint model. In order to make a comeback, Chesapeake Energy has gradually shifted its focus to natural gas.

The company bought Vine Energy, a natural gas producer, for $2.2 billion last August to consolidate its position in Haynesville shale. The shale is close to many natural gas export facilities along the Gulf Coast of the United States. In January, Chesapeake Energy bought gas operator Chief Oil & Gas, which is located in the Marcellus shale belt in northeastern Pennsylvania.

After the release of its financial results in the second quarter of this year, the company CEO said it would focus on its shale gas projects in the United States and make the oil production project in Eagle Ford as a non-core business.In the future, it will turn to natural gas and liquefied natural gas exports.Chesapeake Energy plans to double natural gas production to meet the surge in global demand for liquefied natural gas in the United States.

The company has signed a natural gas supply agreement with the Golden Pass LNG terminal.

Chesapeake Energy is up 60% year-to-date.

Other companies focusing on natural gas include:$Coterra Energy (CTRA.US) $、$Antero Resources (AR.US) $、$Mountain Resources (RRC.US) $、$Southwest Energy (SWN.US) $、$Comstock Energy (CRK.US) $等。