Thursday, December 14th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $2.382, five cents above Wednesday’s closing price of $2.335. Finding support early on thanks to a cooler shift in the short-term forecast, prices were trading near $2.390 ahead of the weekly storage report. Initially jumping to an intraday high of $2.405 as the publication hit the wire, with the injection largely landing within market expectations, selling then took hold as the contract fell to the intraday low of $2.328 ahead of midday. Once again having roamed into oversold territory, January rose throughout the afternoon, closing higher on Thursday at $2.392.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday showed a 55 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended December 8 – within range of the market estimate 60 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 3,664 BCF; 7.2% above this time last year and 7.6% above the five-year average.
As of 6:15AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up 29; Natural Gas was up two cents; Heating Oil was up one cent; and Gasoline was up slightly.