Thursday, December 19th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $3.491, up
$0.117 compared to Wednesday’s closing price of $3.374. Following overnight gains that can be attributed to below-average temperatures arriving mid-January, the contract traded sideways near $3.485 leading up to the weekly publication. Falling to the intraday low of $3.464 as the report hit the wire, the triple-digit pull emboldened bulls as prices rose into the afternoon. January marked an intraday high of $3.591 ahead of closed, finishing higher on the day at $3.584.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on 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 6:40AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $0.860; Natural Gas was up $0.094; Heating
Oil was down $0.034, and Gasoline was down $0.016.
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
