Friday, February 23rd saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $1.621, eleven cents below Thursday’s closing price of $1.732. Posting a modest bump to achieve the intraday high of $1.644 ahead of 9:05AM, the contract then continued its overnight decline as weather forecasts continued to disappoint. Overlooking news of upcoming production cuts, prices seesawed near $1.610 for the balance of the day, marking the intraday low of $1.593 at 11:35AM. March closed lower on Friday at $1.603.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Thursday showed a 60 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended February 16 – in line with the market estimate 64 BCF. Please note a revision in the East Region from the prior week’s report of 5 BCF, changing last week’s total withdrawal from 49 BCF to 54 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 2,470 BCF; 12.0% above this time last year and 22.3% above the five-year average.
As of 6:10AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down 21 cents; Natural Gas was up six cents; Heating Oil was up two cents; and Gasoline was up 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.
