Natural Gas Demand Rising Amidst Seasonal Changes

Monday, May 18th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $3.042, $0.082 above Friday’s closing price of $2.960. Recording a fresh seven-week intraday high of $3.060, updated forecasts for increased cooling demand and short covering provided support early on. Marking the intraday low of $2.982 at 9:55AM, the contract battled higher for the duration of the session. June closed higher on Monday at $3.024.

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 7:20AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $0.390; Natural Gas was up $0.023; Heating Oil was down $0.036; and Gasoline was down $0.050.

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