Liquefied natural gas is fetching the lowest price on record in Asia, a troubling sign for U.S. energy producers who have relied on overseas shipments of shale gas to buoy the sagging domestic market. The main price gauge for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, in Asia fell to $3.15 per million British thermal units Wednesday, down sharply from more than $20 five years ago as US deliveries have swamped markets worldwide. As recently as January 15, the Asian benchmark, called the Japan Korea Marker, was comfortably above $5. Around then, fear that the outbreak of the coronavirus would stall activity in the world’s second-largest economy added to other factors already pressuring prices. Those included a mild winter in Asia, ample local stockpiles and increasing deliveries from U.S. gas-liquefaction facilities. Tumbling LNG prices are cause for concern for a wide swath of energy companies, from major oil companies $RDS.A and $CVX to independent firms that operate export terminals, such as $LNG, and shale-gas producers like $COG, $RRC and $EQT. A problem for LNG suppliers like these is that power plants in Asia have been slower to switch from burning coal to gas than their US and European peers were when cheap shale gas flooded their local markets. In the US, natural gas prices fell below $2/MMBTU last month and have remained there, a remarkable drop given that prices are typically at their high point in winter, when demand for the heating fuel is high. Natural-gas futures for March delivery fell 0.6% Wednesday to $1.861 per million British thermal units, down 30% from a year ago despite record consumption by US power plants and a surge in exports, both seaborne and across the southern border into Mexico via pipelines. Given that it typically costs about $2 per million British thermal units to liquefy and ship the fuel to Asia, prices there have fallen to a level that makes spot deliveries from the US cost more than what buyers are willing to pay.