Friday, December 20th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $3.628, up $0.044 compared to Thursday’s closing price of $3.584. Pulling back initially to mark the intraday low of $3.554 at 9:35AM, short-covering and forecasts for below average temperatures in early January once again support as the contract mounted a steady ascent. Crossing midday at $3.692, prices rose to tally an 11-month intraday high of $3.828 at 1:25PM. January closed higher on Friday at $3.748.
The Sprague NG Marketwatch will be on hiatus from today (12/23) until the new year.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Thursday showed a 125 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended December 13 – above the market estimate of a 130 BCF withdrawal. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,622 BCF; 0.6% above this time last year and 3.8% above the five-year average.
As of 8:15AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $0.340; Natural Gas was up $0.057; Heating Oil was up $0.004, and Gasoline was down $0.004.
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
