Thursday, January 9th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $2.123, two cents below Wednesday’s closing price of $2.141. Trading alongside $2.135 through 10:00AM, prices then shed a penny as the weekly storage report approached. Sinking to a five-month intraday low of $2.105 as the bearish publication hit the wire, the contract was quick to recoup its losses and continue higher. Crossing midday near $2.150, February then continued upward to an intraday high of $2.170 at 2:20PM, closing higher on Thursday at $2.166.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday showed a 44 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended January 3rd – below the market estimate of 52 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,148 BCF: 19.8% above this time last year and 2.4% below the five-year average.
As of 8:50AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down 21 cents; Natural Gas was up three cents; Heating Oil was down slightly; and Gasoline up one cent.
Natural Gas Glossary
Natural Gas Supplier
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.