Thursday, January 5th saw the February NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $3.889, twenty-eight cents below Wednesday’s closing price of $4.172. Settling in near the $3.830 level heading into the weekly storage publication, prices trended lower as the above-average withdrawal failed to impress, given the impending stretch of mild weather conditions. Marking an one-year intraday low of $3.651 at 12:30PM, February closed lower on Thursday at $3.720.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday showed a 221 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended December 30 – below the market estimate of 245 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 2,891 BCF; 9.6% below this time last year and 6.7% below the five-year average.
As of 6:40AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down five cents; Natural Gas was down 11 cents; Heating Oil was up slightly; and Gasoline was down one cent.
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.