Thursday, August 29th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $2.056, four cents below Wednesday’s closing price of $2.097. Receding to mark an intraday low of $2.026 at 9:45AM, prices recovered to trade along $2.065 leading up to the weekly storage publication. Posting a steady ascent following the report’s release, the contract rose to tag the intraday high of $2.149 at 1:00PM as bullish traders pinned their hopes on September cooling demand. October closed higher on Thursday at $2.137; up nearly 11% on the day.
The NYMEX Trading Floor will be closed on Monday, September 2 in observation of the Labor Day holiday.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Thursday showed a 35 BCF injection to storage for the week ended August 23 – in line with the market estimate of a 39 BCF injection. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,334 BCF; 7.3% above this time last year and 12.1% 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 up one cent; 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.