Friday, February 21st saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $4.282, up $0.130 compared to Thursday’s closing price of $4.152. Recouping the previous day’s withdrawal, an overnight shift to weather forecasts drove prices to an intraday high of $4.437. Following the brief thaw that’s forecasted for early March, analysts are now expecting a return to frigid temperatures soon thereafter. Fluctuating along $4.380 through midday, prices fell to an intraday low of $4.218 at 2:15PM. March closed higher on Friday at $4.234; up 13.7% on the week.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Thursday posted a 196 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended February 14 – in line with the market estimate of a 191 BCF withdrawal. Total working gas in storage was reported as 2,101 BCF; 15.5% below this time last year and 5.3% below the five-year average.
As of 7:25AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up $0.030; Natural Gas was down $0.263; Heating Oil was down $0.013; and Gasoline was up $0.002.
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