Friday, December 8th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $2.579, slightly below Thursday’s closing price of $2.585. Lacking any material changes to fundamentals overnight and throughout the session, ample storage supplies and steady production continued to apply bearish pressure to the market. Falling to the intraday low of $2.538 at 10:00AM, prices hung around $2.565 through midday until posting a late-day ascent. Recording the intraday high of $2.607 at 1:35PM, January closed nearly flat on Friday at $2.581.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday showed a 117 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended December 1 – above the market estimate of a 109 BCF withdrawal. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,719 BCF; 7.3% above this time last year and 6.7% above the five-year average.
As of 7:10AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down 36 cents; Natural Gas was down 20 cents; Heating Oil was down slightly; and Gasoline was down slightly.
For access to Sprague’s full Natural Gas Market Watch Report including commentary not posted here, please send your request to natgas@spragueenergy.com or call 1-855-466-2842.
