Thursday, January 8th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $3.462, $0.063 below Wednesday’s closing price of $3.525. Losing ground overnight as markets chose to focus on near-term weak demand and steady production, prices achieved the intraday high of $3.471 at 9:15AM. Pulling back further following the weekly storage publication, the contract stepped lower until reaching the intraday low of $3.355 at 1:45PM. February closed lower on Thursday at $3.407.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on 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 7:00AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up $0.540; Natural Gas was up $0.058; Heating Oil was up $0.031; and Gasoline was up $0.018.
New York basis values were unchanged for the current winter months and higher for the following summer season, whereas New England basis values were higher for the current winter months and lower for the following summer season. Additionally, cash prices were lower in New York and New England.
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
