Thursday, December 22nd saw the January NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $5.215, twelve cents below Wednesday’s closing price of $5.332. Ascending to the intraday high of $5.425 ahead of 10:00AM, prices fell to $5.350 ahead of the weekly storage publication. Losing ground soon thereafter as the report landed on the bearish side of expectations, the latest 10-day forecast is showing above-average conditions for the end of the month. Marking the intraday low of $4.975 ahead of 2:30PM, January closed lower on Thursday at $4.999.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday showed an 87 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended December 16 – below the market estimate of 94 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,325 BCF; 1.3% below this time last year and 0.7% above the five-year average.
As of 9:55AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up $2.12; Natural Gas was down 5 cents; Heating Oil was up 7 cents; and Gasoline was up 7 cents.
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.
