Friday, January 9th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $3.330, $0.077 below Thursday’s closing price of $3.407. Recording the intraday high of $3.360 at 9:45AM, as short-term mild forecasts persist the market responded with a material pullback. Crossing midday at $3.307 the contract withdrew to mark the intraday low of $3.158 at 2:25PM. February closed lower on Friday at $3.169; down 14.2% on the week.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Thursday posted a 119 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended January 2 – greater than the market estimate of a 108 BCF withdrawal. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,256 BCF; 3.6% below this time last year and 1.0% above the five-year average.
As of 6:05AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $0.380; Natural Gas was up $0.091; Heating Oil was down $0.013; and Gasoline was flat.
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