Thursday, February 16th saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas Futures Contract open at $2.547, seven cents above Wednesday’s closing price of $2.471. Marking the intraday high as markets opened, prices trended gradually lower to reach the $2.480 level ahead of the weekly storage report. Trading sideways through midday following the bearish report, compared to prior years, the contract withdrew into the afternoon. Marking the intraday low of $2.358 at 1:30PM, March closed lower on Thursday at $2.389.
The NYMEX Trading Floor will be closed on Monday February 20th in observance of Presidents’ Day. Friday’s report will be published on Tuesday the 21st.
The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report published on Thursday showed a 100 BCF withdrawal from storage for the week ended February 10 – in line with the market estimate of 97 BCF. Total working gas in storage was reported as 2,266 BCF; 16.9% above this time last year and 8.8% above the five-year average.
As of 6:50AM EST this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $2.41; Natural Gas was down six cents; Heating Oil was down ten cents; and Gasoline was down ten cents.
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.