Friday, January 23rd saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $5.227, $0.182 above Thursday’s closing price of $5.045. Markets remained elevated throughout the session as Traders prepared for the arctic front to move into the Northeast over the weekend and linger into this week. Trading within a wide range throughout the session, the contract marked the intraday low of $4.980 at 12:25PM and the intraday high of $5.434 at 1:45PM. February closed higher on Friday at $5.275; up 70% on the week.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Thursday posted a 120 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended January 16 – greater than the market estimate of a 90 BCF withdrawal. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,065 BCF; 4.8% above this time last year and 6.1% above the five-year average.
As of 8:45AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $0.360; Natural Gas was up $0.566; Heating Oil was up $0.063; and Gasoline was down $0.031.
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
