Thursday, March 29th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contracts open at $2.750, five cents above Wednesday’s closing price of $2.698. Climbing gradually through the session’s opening hour to reach the intraday high of $2.764 ahead of 10:00AM, prices were then diminished by a bearish storage report. Even though the published withdrawal was below expectations, losses were limited through the balance of the day as total storage levels now sit 20% below the five-year average. May closed higher on Thursday at $2.733.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday showed a 63 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended March 23rd – nearly even to the market estimate of 65 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 1,383 BCF; 32.7% below this time last year and 20.0% below the five-year average.
The NYMEX will be closed today in observance of the Good Friday holiday. The next MarketWatch will be published on Tuesday, April 3rd.
This morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up 56 cents; Natural Gas was up four cents; Heating Oil was up one cent; and, Gasoline was up slightly.
Natural Gas Glossary
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