Natural gas prices started off the week rising but soon enough resumed their downward trend during the rest of the week. By Friday the Henry Hub (short term delivery) fell by nearly 1.8%. I have referred to the recent fundamental developments in the natural gas market in a recent post. Following these changes the difference between future and spot was mostly in Backwardation but by the end of the week shifted to Contango. The NG storage continues to increase at a slightly slower pace than in recent years.
During last week the Henry Hub spot declined by 4.58% and the future (September delivery) by 1.81%. During August (UTD), natural gas spot fell by 15.58% and the future (short term delivery) by 15.26%.
Here is a short review for the recent changes in natural gas market for the week ending on August 17th 2012:
Natural Gas Market– August Review
The Nymex Henry Hub Future (short term delivery) fell during last week by 1.81% and by Friday reached $2.72 /mmbtu; its average daily change was -0.34%, its weekly average price was also 5.43% below the previous average price.
The Henry Hub spot also declined during last week by 4.58%, and its average price was 5.12% below the previous average price.
The difference between the NG future and spot prices – future minus spot – was mostly in Backwardation during the week; by the end the difference reached $0.01, i.e. Contango.
Natural Gas Charts
The following charts presents Nat Gas (Henry Hub) and future (Nymex Henry Hub) in $/mmbtu between August 13th and August 17th.
The first chart presents the fluctuations of NAT Gas (Henry Hub future and spot) as natural gas future and spot fell during most of the week.
In the second chart are the daily percent changes of the Henry Hub spot and Nymex Henry Hub future (short term delivery).
NG Storage Update – EIA Report:
According to the recent EIA report on natural gas the underground storage (Billion Cubic Feet) rose by 20 Bcf to 3,261 billion cubic feet for all lower 48 states; the NGs storage was 12.5% above the 5-year average, and was also 15.7% above the storage level during the same week in 2011.
The recent NG storage weekly update as of August 10th.
For further reading: