February NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract Closed at $2.697 on Thursday, January 18th

Thursday, January 18th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $2.824, five cents below Wednesday’s closing price of $2.870. Trading marginally higher to record the intraday high of 2.845 at 9:25AM, prices then returned to trade along $2.800 ahead of the weekly storage publication.  Sinking as low as $2.722 as the report’s withdrawal failed to impress, a modest rally heading into midday ultimately gave way as selling dominated the afternoon. Recording the intraday low of $2.666 at 2:00PM, February closed lower on Thursday at $2.697.

The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday showed a 154 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended January 12 – below the market estimate 176 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,182 BCF; 12.4% above this time last year and 11.2% above the five-year average.

As of 7:00AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down seven cents; Natural Gas was down eight cents; Heating Oil was up one cent; and Gasoline was down one cent.
                                                                                                     
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