May 1, 2023
Friday, April 28
th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $2.465, twenty-one cents above Thursday’s closing price of $2.355. Spiking to a six-week intraday high of $2.503 within minutes of the open, as reports came in of a force majeure even on the Columbia Gulf Transmission due to a fire as a result of a lightning strike. Pulling back in the following minutes as traders digested information as updates came in, prices fell to an intraday low of $2.350 at 9:55AM. Trading along the $2.390 level into the afternoon, June closed higher on Friday at $2.410; up nearly 8% on the week.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday showed a 79 BCF injection to storage for the week ended April 21 – in line with the market estimate of 78 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 2,009 BCF; 35.4% above this time last year and 22.2% above the five-year average.
As of 7:45AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $1.67; Natural Gas was down two cents; Heating Oil was down four cents; and Gasoline was down four cents.
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