In the days leading up to today's EIA Natural Gas storage report Natural gas wholesale contracts are inching higher early Wednesday just slightly below last week’s top at $2.979. Natural gas prices rose on Tuesday after the latest weather models showed early indications of hotter weather at the end of August and the early part of September.
Tuesday, the September wholesale contract settled at $2.98, up $0.039 or +1.32%.
The deferred wholesale contract strip of November to March may be benefiting the most from the change in the weather forecast, the nearby September and most active October are not. This is because the short-term weather forecast is calling for cooler temperatures and this is expected to lower demand.
According to NatGasWeather.com, “Overall, the pattern is neutral to a touch bearish this week” because of the weather systems sweeping across the eastern half of the country, the weather forecaster said. Things turn “at least somewhat bullish the last several days of August into the first week of September” as stronger-than-normal high pressure sets up over the eastern two-thirds of the country, “suggesting hefty deficits should still not be expected to improve until after August, and likely not until mid-September,” NatGasWeather said.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. natural gas in storage increased by 33 Bcf to 2.387 Tcf during the week-ended August 10. The build was slightly more than the consensus estimate for a 30 Bcf addition.
The injection fell well short of the 49 Bcf build reported during the corresponding week in 2017 and less than the five-year average addition of 56 Bcf, according to EIA data. Stocks were 687 Bcf, or 22% less than the year-ago level of 3.074 Tcf and 595 Bcf, or 20%, less than the 5-year average of 2.982 Tcf.
See a recap of previous weeks EIA storage reports here.
EIA Natural Gas Storage Report 08-23-18
This morning, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a 48 Bcf injection into natural gas storage inventories in their weekly storage report for the week to August 17th., The report was slightly below estimates and the market has ticked up a penny since the report was released. This time last year saw a build of 45 Bcf and the 5-year average build was 52 Bcf. The prompt month is currently trading flat @ $2.95 and the 12 month strip is also flat @ $2.89.
After the release of the report, total U.S. natural gas in storage stood at 2.435 Tcf. This compares to 3.119 Tcf last year and 3.034 Tcf for the five-year average.
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Review a recap of previous weeks EIA Natural Gas inventory Reports.
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