Friday, July 26th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $2.035, nearly a penny below Thursday’s closing price of $2.041. Trading sideways along $2.025 for the majority of the session, traders looked past the previous day’s storage miss as the contract’s expiration drew near. Posting a modest climb to record the intraday high of $2.056 at 2:00PM, prices then withdrew to record a near three-month intraday low of $1.999 ahead of 2:30PM. August closed lower on Friday at $2.006; down nearly 6% on the week.
Ready to assume the front-month position on Tuesday, the September contract closed two cents lower at $2.051.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Thursday showed a 22 BCF injection to storage for the week ended July 19 – above the market estimate 14 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,232 BCF; 8.4% above this time last year and 16.4% above the five-year average.
New York basis values were unchanged for all seasons, whereas New England basis values were higher for the current summer months and unchanged for the coming winter season. Additionally, cash prices were lower in New York and New England.
