Thursday, February 1st saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $2.098, nearly even to Wednesday’s closing price of $2.100. Trading gradually upward until tallying the intraday high of $2.121 ahead of 10:30AM, the storage report then directed prices lower as it fell in line with expectations. Combined with light demand in the short-term and steady production, prices moved lower for the balance of the morning and into the afternoon. Finding a bottom at an intraday low of $2.034 near 1:00PM, March closed lower on Thursday at $2.050.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday showed a 200 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended January 26 – on par with the market estimate 200 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 2,658 BCF; 2.1% above this time last year and 5.1% above the five-year average.
As of 7:45AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down six cents; Natural Gas was flat; Heating Oil was down three cents; and Gasoline was down one cent.
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