Monday, January 26th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $5.763, $0.488 above Friday’s closing price of $5.275. Recording the intraday low of $5.756 within minutes of the opening bell, frigid temperatures and short covering sent prices higher as much of the Northeast was blanketed in snow over the weekend and forecasts shifted to colder. Surging higher through the morning, prices peaked at a three-year intraday high of $7.439 at 12:35PM. Pulling back heading into closing, February finished higher on Monday at $6.800.
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 7:50AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $0.010; Natural Gas was down $0.377; Heating Oil was down $0.066; 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
