January NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract Closed at $2.572 on Thursday, December 21st

Thursday, December 21st saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $2.485, four cents above Wednesday’s closing price of $2.447. Falling to an intraday low of $2.460 by 9:45AM, the contract was trading at $2.478 ahead of the weekly storage publication. Directed upward by a larger than anticipated storage pull, prices rose through midday to peak at an intraday high of $2.604 at 1:15PM. Holding on to this momentum, January traded sideways to finish-out the day; closing higher on Thursday at $2.572.

The Sprague MarketWatch will be on hiatus until the new year. Happy Holidays!

The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday showed an 87 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended December 15 – within range of the market estimate 84 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,577 BCF; 7.2% above this time last year and 8.5% above the five-year average.

As of 8:15AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up 62 cents; Natural Gas was up two cents; Heating Oil was up one cent; and Gasoline was up one cent.
                                                                                                 
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