Natural Gas Prices Trends: Understanding the Rise

Thursday, March 26^th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $2.975, $0.023 above Wednesday’s closing price $2.952. Trading along $2.970 leading up to the weekly storage report, marking the intraday low of $2.952 at 10:05AM, prices trended higher following the 10:30M publication. Supported by ongoing uncertainty in the Middle East and steady LNG demand, prices climbed to an intraday high of $3.025 at 1:00PM. April closed higher on Thursday at $2.999.

The more actively trade May contract blazed a similar trail as prices rose to an intraday high of $2.986 at 1:00PM. May closed $0.016 higher at $2.928.

The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Thursday posted a 54 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended March 20 – above the market estimate of a 48 BCF injection. Total working gas in storage was reported as 1,829 BCF; 5.2% above this time last year and 0.8% above the five-year average.

As of 6:32AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up $1.990 Natural Gas was up $0.071; Heating Oil was up $0.040; and Gasoline was up $0.056.

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