August natural gas futures were selling off through midday Monday ahead of their expiry at the end of the day, matching a similar decline in Henry Hub cash markets.
Here’s the latest:
- August Nymex natural gas contract down 10.5 cents to $1.901/MMBtu as of 2:17 p.m. ET; September unchanged at $2.051
The declines for August were following the typical bearish pattern for expiry days. “The past 11 final settlement sessions for injection-season contracts have averaged a 9.9-cent decline,” according to EBW Analytics Group’s Eli Rubin, senior analyst.
Rising Lower 48 gas production has remained a concern for the market after last week’s bearish storage print, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) analyst Matt Portillo said. “We believe the market may be trying to force shut-ins into the shoulder season via price,” he said.
The first slate of producer earnings last week indicated CNX Resources Corp. and Range Resources Corp. were “unlikely to make further production concessions,” while EQT Corp. baked in more curtailments, Portillo said.
- U.S. LNG export terminals scheduled to receive around 13.4 Bcf of feed gas Monday, the highest since early June, per NGI data
The Freeport liquefied natural gas terminal nominated about 2.23 Bcf/d on Monday, according to NGI’s U.S. LNG Export Tracker.
“All three Freeport units up and natural gas still a dumpster fire,” a market participant remarked on online energy platform Enelyst.
- El Paso Natural Gas Co. LLC (EPNG) pipeline maintenance starting Tuesday to limit northwest flows in New Mexico
EPNG said the two days of cleaning and smart tooling on Line 1103 from Afton to Deming in New Mexico would reduce the line’s capacity by about 574 MMcf/d to 413 MMcf/d. Flows have been running much less than total capacity, so the net effect would be around a 177 MMcf/d reduction at Afton, Wood Mackenzie analyst Magnus Gilje said.
- Cash prices at NGI’s Henry Hub averaging $1.880, down 10.5 cents, according to NGI’s MidDay Price Alert
- W. TX/SE NM Regional Avg. averaging negative 4.5 cents, up 93.0 cents; California Regional Avg. averaging $1.840, down 45.5 cents
A heat wave was forecast to expand across the center of the country on Monday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. Highs in the 100s would spread in central states while highs in the 90s would push east in the Midwest and up the eastern seaboard over the next several days, NWS data showed.
Elsewhere, a stagnant troughing pattern was expected to keep temperatures below normal in portions of the Pacific Northwest, Great Basin and Rockies, NWS said.
Meanwhile, rain and thunderstorms on Tuesday posed cooler risks to areas of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, Maxar’s Weather Desk said.
