Monday, March 16th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $3.099, $0.032 below Friday’s closing price $3.131. Reaching the intraday high of $3.139 within minutes of the opening bell, the contract then trended decidedly lower despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and incoming frigid temperatures. Stabilizing near $3.015 ahead of midday, prices slipped to an intraday low of $2.992 at 1:15PM. April closed lower on Monday at $3.023.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Thursday posted a 38 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended March 6 – in line with the market estimate of a 37 BCF withdrawal. Total working gas in storage was reported as 1,848 BCF; 8.5% above this time last year and 0.9% below the five-year average.
As of 6:10AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up $2.870; Natural Gas was flat; Heating Oil was up $0.216; and Gasoline was up $0.074.
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