Friday, January 5th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $2.690, thirteen cents below Thursday’s closing price of $2.821. Marking the intraday low of $2.687 by 9:05AM, prices then moved decidedly upward as profit-taking subsided, and traders refocused on the impeding high-demand forecasts. Leveling off near $2.755 by 10:15AM, the contract traded sideways until posting a secondary rally near midday. Marking the intraday high of $2.899 ahead of 2:30PM, February closed higher on Friday at $2.893.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Thursday showed a 14 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended December 29 – below the market estimate 38 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,476 BCF; 18.9% above this time last year and 13.0% above the five-year average.
As of 6:30AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $2.04; Natural Gas was down six cents; Heating Oil was down two cents; and Gasoline was down six cents.
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