Natural Gas Contracts: Understanding Recent Changes

Tuesday, July 29^th saw the August NYMEX Natural Gas contract open at $3.052, $0.064 above Monday’s closing price of $2.988. August settled higher at $3.081.

The more actively traded September contract opened $0.080 higher on Tuesday at $3.146. Recording the intraday low of $3.114 minutes after 9:00AM, prices were trending higher due to a bullish shift in the latest weather forecast. Marking the intraday high of $3.190 at 10:00, the contract then withdrew to trade near $3.145 into the afternoon. September closed higher on Tuesday at $3.142.

The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report is due out Thursday at 10:30AM. The report is expected to show a 34 BCF injection to storage for the week ended July 25. This compares to an 18 BCF injection this time last year and a five-year average injection amount of 24 BCF.

As of 7:15AM this morning in Globex, WTI Crude was down $0.580; Natural Gas was up $0.022; Heating Oil was down $0.061; and Gasoline was down $0.022.

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

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