Natural Gas Storage Report Overview and Impacts

Friday, May 15th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $2.948, $0.054 above Thursday’s closing price of $2.894. Falling to an intraday low of $2.912 by 10:10AM, prices were quick to rebound, trading along $2.960 soon thereafter. Garnering support from the latest forecasts, reporting an increase in short-term cooling demand, analysts are also keeping an eye on the possible El Nino effects this summer. Reaching a seven-week intraday high of $2.982 at 12:45PM, June closed higher on Friday at $2.960; up 7.4% on the week.

The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Thursday posted an 85 BCF injection to storage for the week ended May 8 – in line with the market estimate of 87 BCF. Working gas in storage was reported as 2,290 BCF; 2.3% above this time last year and 6.5% above the five-year average.

As of 7:10AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up $1.120; Natural Gas was up $0.095; Heating Oil was up $0.064; and Gasoline was up $0.029.

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