Natural Gas Contracts and Market Movements Explained

Tuesday, May 26th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $2.944, $0.037 above Friday’s closing price of $2.907. Extending to an intraday high of $2.989 ahead of 10:00AM as traders positioned themselves ahead of Wednesday’s settlement, prices then withdrew through midday. Overlooking ongoing geopolitical tensions, the contract fell to an intraday low of $2.878 in a last-minute sell-off. June closed lower on Tuesday at $2.894.

The more actively traded July contract closed $0.011 lower at $3.010.

The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published last Thursday posted a 101 BCF injection to storage for the week ended May 15 – in line with the market estimate of 99 BCF. Working gas in storage was reported as 2,391 BCF; 1.4% above this time last year and 6.6% above the five-year average.

As of 6:35AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $3.460; Natural Gas was up $0.002; Heating Oil was down $0.113; and Gasoline was down $0.097.

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