Homeowners also have been using less natural gas for heating, thanks to a mild winter.
The glut has pushed down the futures price of gas 59 percent since it peaked at $4.85 last summer.
Cheaper gas has already lowered heating bills this winter, and air conditioning costs are expected to fall this summer because many utilities generate electricity with natural gas.
Major American manufacturers — including chemical companies, fertilizer plants, aluminum and steelmakers — also should benefit as energy costs tumble.
If you’re a consumer, this is great news,” independent petroleum analyst Stephen Schork said. “This could spark a real rebirth of American manufacturing.
Supplies of gas are high because improved drilling techniques have allowed companies to produce more from vast, gas rich layers of underground rock.
Commodities traders also said that Wednesday’s drop is an important indicator of how bloated the natural gas market has become.
While consumers enjoy cheaper prices, producers will find it harder to turn a profit.
Some have tried to slow production, but so far prices have continued to fall amid mild winter weather.
Meanwhile, oil prices rose on positive signs for the economy and energy demand.
And aluminum maker Alcoa surprised Wall Street with a first quarter profit, thanks to stronger sales to carmakers and other manufacturers.
Brent crude, which is used to price oil imported by US refineries, increased by 48 cents to $120.36.
Retail gasoline prices fell by less than a penny to $3.915 per gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.
Gasoline has dropped by about 2 cents over the past week, but it’s still 64 cents higher than it was at the beginning of the year.
In other energy trading, heating oil rose by 2.07 cents to $3.1164 per gallon while gasoline futures climbed 4.33 cents to $3.2929 per gallon.
Temeka Berry is a business journalist based in Shanghai, China. Temeka has a passion for financial markets and breaking news stories and loves writing about business news, stock market, and economic opinions that matters most to its audience. Temeka spends a lot of time discovering and researching latest financial markets and industry news stories in order to make sure the latest and greatest stories are brought to you first on BigBoardNews.com.
