Thursday, December 19th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $2.252, three cents below Wednesday’s closing price of $2.286. Trading along either side of $2.250 through 10:30AM, prices surged to an intraday high of $2.302 ten minutes later as the bullish storage report hit the wire. Posting a staggered descent from this high, the contract stabilized near $2.245 by 1:00PM only to mount another rally as the session came to a close. Weather models are calling for warmer than average temperatures for the end of December as market volatility continues. January closed lower on Thursday at $2.273.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday showed a 107 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended December 13th – above the market estimate of 98 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,411 BCF: 22.1% above this time last year and 0.3% below the five-year average.
As of 8:50AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down 20 cents; Natural Gas was up four cents; Heating Oil was up slightly; and Gasoline was up one cent.
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