Friday, May 1st saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $2.801, $0.034 above Thursday’s $2.767. Recording the intraday high of $2.812 within minutes of the opening bell, the contract then traded decidedly lower as warming temperatures and stout storage levels dominated market sentiment. Marking the intraday low of $2.746 at 10:15AM, prices fluctuated near $2.770 throughout the afternoon. June closed higher on Friday at $2.780.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Thursday posted a 79 BCF injection to storage for the week ended April 24 – in line with the market estimate of 78 BCF. Working gas in storage was reported as 2,142 BCF; 5.7% above this time last year and 7.7% above the five-year average.
As of 6:30AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up $3.130; Natural Gas was up $0.037; Heating Oil was up $0.088; and Gasoline was up $0.071.
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