Natural gas price (short term delivery) resumed its rally during most of last week, while the spot price declined. Following these shifts the difference between future and spot was mostly in Contango during the week. The NG storage rose again at a higher pace than last year.
During last week the Henry Hub spot declined by 1.8%, while the future (September delivery) rose by 3.7%. During August (UTD), natural gas spot declined by 14.64% and the future (short term delivery) by 12.77%.
Here is a short overview for the recent developments in natural gas market for the week ending on August 31st 2012:
Natural Gas Market– August Review
The Nymex Henry Hub Future (short term delivery) rose during last week by 3.7% and by Friday reached $2.8 /mmbtu; its average daily change was 0.75%, its weekly average price was 2.88% below the previous average price.
The Henry Hub spot declined during last week by 1.79%, and its average price was 2.37% below the previous average price.
The difference between the NG future and spot prices – future minus spot – was mostly in Contango during the week; by the end the difference reached $0.06, i.e. Contango.
Natural Gas Charts
The following charts show Nat Gas (Henry Hub) and future (Nymex Henry Hub) in $/mmbtu between August 27th and August 31st.
The first chart presents the changes of NAT Gas (Henry Hub future and spot) as natural gas future rose during most of the week while spot price tumbled during the first days 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 review on natural gas the underground storage (Billion Cubic Feet) rose by 66 Bcf to 3,374 billion cubic feet for all lower 48 states; the NGs storage was 12.0% above the 5-year average, and was also 14.6% above the storage level during the same week in 2011.
The recent NG storage weekly update as of August 24th.
For further reading: