Natural Gas Analysis: Understanding Recent Movements

Friday, April 25^th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $2.889, $0.041 cents below Thursday’s closing price of $2.930. Recording the intraday low of $2.870 within minutes of the opening bell, the contract rallied over the next two hours to record the intraday high of $2.981. Prices retreated to trade along $2.940 by midday as comfortable weather forecasts and steady production sustained the ongoing bearish sentiment. May closed higher on Friday at $2.937; down 9.5% on the week.

The more actively traded June contract closed higher as well at $3.114.

The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday posted an 88 BCF injection to storage for the week ended April 18 – above the market estimate of an 80 BCF injection. Total working gas in storage was reported as 1,934 BCF; 19.8% below this time last year and 2.2% below the five-year average.

As of 6:45AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $0.360; Natural Gas was up $0.005; Heating Oil was down $0.006; and Gasoline was down $0.009.

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

This market update is provided for information purposes only and is not intended as advice on any transaction nor is it a solicitation to buy or sell commodities. Sprague makes no representations or warranties with respect to the contents of such news, including, without limitation, its accuracy and completeness, and Sprague shall not be responsible for the consequence of reliance upon any opinions, statements, projections and analyses presented herein or for any omission or error in fact. The views expressed in this material are through the period as of the date of this report and are subject to change based on market and other conditions. This document contains certain statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements. Please note that any such statements are not guarantees of any future performance or results and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected. The whole or any part of this work may not be reproduced, copied, or transmitted or any of its contents disclosed to third parties without Sprague’s express written consent.