Tuesday, January 20th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $3.940, $0.837 above Friday’s closing price of $3.103. Rallying prior the opening bell, prices were catapulted upward as frigid temperatures covered key demand areas of the country. Providing additional support was the possibility of freeze-offs and short-covering. Marking a three-week intraday high of $3.971 ahead of 9:30AM, the contract pulled back in the following hour to record the intraday low $3.761 at 10:30AM. Seeking direction near the $3.860 into the afternoon, February closed higher on Wednesday at $3.907.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report is due out Thursday at 10:30AM. The report is expected to show a 115 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended January 16. This compares to a 223 BCF withdrawal this time last year and a five-year average withdrawal amount of 191 BCF.
As of 7:10AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up $0.100; Natural Gas was up $0.760; Heating Oil was up $0.054; and Gasoline was up $0.008.
For access to Sprague’s full Natural Gas Market Watch Report including commentary not posted here, please send your request to natgas@spragueenergy.com or call 1-855-466-2842
