Thursday, March 21st saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $1.685, a penny below Wednesday’s closing price of $1.699. Knocked down overnight by softening forecasts and the expectation of a historically unseasonal storage injection, the contract traded along $1.680 leading up to the weekly storage publication. Peaking at the intraday high of $1.699 following the weekly storage publication, prices then withdrew to record the intraday low of $1.651 ahead of midday. Posting a modest recovery through the afternoon, April closed lower on Thursday at $1.683.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday showed a 7 BCF injection to storage for the week ended March 15 – in line with the market estimate 1 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 2,332 BCF; 21.4% above this time last year and 41.0% above the five-year average.
As of 7:15AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up eight cents; Natural Gas was up one cent; Heating Oil was up slightly; and Gasoline was up one cent.
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