Natural Gas Prices Rise Amid Geopolitical Tensions

Wednesday, April 22nd saw the front-month NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $2.740, $0.043 above Tuesday’s closing price $2.697. Buoyed by ongoing geopolitical tensions and restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz, seasonal demand helped to drive prices to an intraday high of $2.763 at 11:30AM. Taking its foot off the gas heading into the afternoon, the contract tallied an intraday low of $2.709 at 2:00PM. May closed higher for a sixth straight session on Wednesday, finishing at $2.722.

The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report is due out Thursday at 10:30AM. The report is expected to show a 92 BCF injection to storage for the week ended April 17. This compares to an 88 BCF injection this time last year and a five-year average injection amount of 64 BCF.

As of 8:05AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was up $0.080; Natural Gas was up $0.002; Heating Oil was down $0.043; and Gasoline was down $0.020.

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