Natural gas spot price sharply increased during the last few days of November, but as the new month had begun, natural gas prices resumed their downward trend. Due to these changes the Contango sharply fell on Wednesday, November 30th to zero.
The high natural gas storage levels (see below) compared with the five year average and the warmer than normal temperatures in the Northeast might be among the factors to keep natural gas spot price low compared with its price at the same week in 2010.
Here is a short review of the main changes in natural gas prices for the week ending on December 2nd:
Natural Gas Prices November – Weekly Review and Analysis
Nymex Henry Hub Future Price (short term delivery) slightly increased during last week by 1.70% and reached on Friday $3.58/mmbtu; its average daily change was 0.25%, and its weekly average price was 3.85% above the previous week’s average price.
Natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) sharply rose by 8.75% during the week, and its average price was 15.75% above last week’s average price.
The difference between the Henry Hub future and spot gas prices, i.e. future price minus spot price (if the spot prices are higher than the future prices its called Backwardation, if future price is higher than its called Contango) was nullified on the last day of November, but on the first couple of days of December the natural gas prices were in Contango; by Friday the gap reached $0.22/mmbtu.
Natural Gas Prices Charts
The following charts present the daily changes of natural gas prices (Henry Hub) and futures prices (Nymex Henry Hub) in $/mmbtu during November 28 to December 2.
The first chart presents the development of natural gas spot price and Henry Hub future price during the week: the Henry Hub spot price sharply increased during the week mainly on the first part of the week as the month of November ended.
The final chart shows the daily percent changes of natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) and Nymex Henry Hub future price. The sharpest gains for the natural gas spot price came on Monday and Tuesday.
EIA Natural Gas Report – Highlights:
The underground natural gas storage (Billion Cubic Feet) slightly declined for the first time in over thirty-three weeks of injections; last week by 1 Bcf; the natural gas storage reached 3,851 billion cubic feet for all lower 48 states; the current natural gas storage is 7.3% above the 5-year average, and is 1.1% above the storage level during the same week in 2010.
For the complete natural gas market report, see here.
For further reading: