Nymex futures heading for negative session on return from three-day weekend amid weak heating demand outlook through early March
March Nymex contract off 3.2 cents to $1.577/MMBtu as of 2:35 p.m. ET; steeper losses observed for 2024 injection season contracts
Euro model seeing highs of 40s and 50s for Midwest and Northeast next week, according to NatGasWeather
NGI modeling 65 Bcf storage pull for week ended Feb. 16, versus 168 five-year average withdrawal
Production at 104.0 Bcf/d in latest Wood Mackenzie estimates, lower versus recent seven-day average 104.8 Bcf/d
Per EBW Analytics Group’s Eli Rubin: “Glimmers of hope due to weekend natural gas production down 0.5-1.0 Bcf/d may provide fundamental cover for technical support to yield a short-term bottom”
Mild weather also driving bearish fundamentals for gas markets in Europe and Asia, according to Rystad Energy’s Lu Ming Pang
Cash prices mixed, with National Avg. easing 1.5 cents to $1.560, NGI’s Midday Price Alert shows
Multiple force majeure notices posted by El Paso Natural Gas (EPNG), impacts on flows through points in Arizona and Texas: Wood Mackenzie
Spot prices rallying west of EPNG constraints, with SoCal Border Avg. surging 43.0 cents to $2.135; upstream, W. TX/SE NM Regional Avg. clobbered, down 30.5 cents, according to Midday Alert
Jeremiah Shelor joined NGI in 2015 after covering business and politics for The Exponent Telegram in Clarksburg, WV. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Literary Nonfiction from West Virginia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Virginia Tech.
Natural gas futures seesawed in a narrow range of gains and losses for a second straight session on Wednesday. The prompt month hovered in the red by early afternoon trading as market participants weighed expectations for strong late-August cooling needs and bullish supply trends against expectations for retreating demand in the fall.
Coming off an 11.2-cent rally the previous session, natural gas futures probed a few cents higher early Tuesday on lower production estimates. But the prompt month failed to sustain momentum as traders focused on weaker near-term demand and took profits. Cash prices also trended lower at midday.
Natural gas futures on Monday advanced through early afternoon trading, propelled by forecasts for widespread heat in late August, lighter production and expectations for another big sign of tightening supply/demand with Thursday’s government inventory data. Spot prices also advanced.
Natural gas futures accelerated declines through midday trading Friday, undercut by weakness in physical cash markets and forecasts for milder weather next week.
Natural gas futures rallied after a government report showed a remarkable August decrease in storage. Analysts interpreted it as a bullish sign of supply/demand tightening after a hot summer and lower production levels. By early afternoon, however, profit-taking dropped the front month into a narrow range of gains and losses.
