Natural gas prices are hitting 10-year lows and the ultra-cheap price is causing problems for drillers... but that is just in America.
If you take a look at our Chart of the Day, you'll see where American companies are going to try to unload their surplus.
The federal government just approved a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Louisiana. Another 10 major applications are still pending.
With LNG prices six times higher in Europe than they are here in the States, the desire to flood foreign markets with our fuel should come as no surprise.
Unfortunately, what is good news for natural gas exporters is bad news for everyone else. Thanks to ultra-cheap natural gas, consumers have seen their energy bills plunge.
A US Energy Information Administration report predicts exports of 12 billion cubic feet of gas each day would raise the price paid by the largest industrial customers in 2018 by 36% to 54% compared with scenarios in which there were no exports.
As a result, the EIA predicts natural gas bills paid by residential, commercial, and industrial consumers would increase by up to 9% and electricity prices would rise 3%, compared with no-export scenarios.
Powerful lobbying groups are already lining up on either side of the equation with dire predictions about the fate of natural gas production without exports or the fate of businesses and citizens with them.
The issue will inevitably be resolved the worst possible way... by politicians.
Adam English is associate editor of Inside Investing Daily.