Friday, April 24th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $2.563, $0.051 below Thursday’s $2.614. Recording the intraday high of $2.565 within minutes of the open, prices trended lower throughout the morning to reach a 19-month intraday low of $2.495 ahead of midday. As peace talks resumed with Iran and supply sitting comfortably above historic levels, a meager afternoon rally saw May closer lower on Friday at $2.523; down 5.6% on the week.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Thursday posted a 103 BCF injection to storage for the week ended April 17 – above with the market estimate of 93 BCF. Please note the revision of -10 BCF for working gas stocks from the previous week. Total working gas in storage was reported as 2,063 BCF; 7.4% above this time last year and 7.1% above the five-year average.
As of 7:25AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up $0.490; Natural Gas was up $0.032; Heating Oil was up $0.094; and Gasoline was up $0.010.
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