The January NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract settled at $4.709 on Wednesday December 28
th.
Markets were closed yesterday in observance of the New Year holiday.
Friday, December 30
rd saw the February NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $4.475, eight cents below Thursday’s closing price of $4.559. Following the post-Christmas sell-off, as prices crumbled due to extended bearish forecasts expected to last well into January, the newly crowned front-month chopped around the $4.400 level on Friday morning. Marking an intraday low of $4.378 by 10:10AM, the contract rose shortly after midday to record the intraday high of $4.544 at 12:45PM. February closed lower on Friday at $4.475.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday showed a 213 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended December 23 – greater than the market estimate of 199 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,112 BCF; 4.1% below this time last year and 2.7% below the five-year average.
As of 6:15AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $1.08; Natural Gas was down 41 cents; Heating Oil was down six cents; and Gasoline was down five cents.
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