The natural gas continues to cool down as the price fell again during last week mainly on Monday. The demand for natural gas in the power sectors sharply fell last week while residential/commercial rose – the total demand declined; the supply slightly decreased. Moreover, based on the EIA natural gas storage weekly report, natural gas storage injection was 59 Bcf, which was higher than the five year average and last year’s injections. These developments may have contributed to the decline of natural gas price during last week.
Here is a short breakdown of the latest changes in natural gas market for the week ending on August 2nd 2013:
Natural Gas Market – July Recap
During last week, the Nymex Henry Hub Future (short term delivery) decreased by 5.85% and reached by Friday $3.35/mmbtu – its lowest level since the end of February 2013; its average daily change was -1.19%; its weekly average rate was 6.80% below last week’s average price.
The gap between the NG future and spot prices – future minus spot – was mostly in Backwardation during the week.
Natural Gas Charts
The following charts shows the changes in Nat Gas future (Nymex Henry Hub) in $/mmbtu during July 29- August 2.
As seen in the chart herein, the natural gas rate (Henry Hub future rate) tumbled down during last week.
In the second chart are the daily percent changes of the Nymex Henry Hub future (short term delivery).
EIA NG Storage Weekly Update:
The underground natural gas storage (Billion Cubic Feet) rose again during last week by 2.12% or by 59 Bcf; the storage reached 2,845 billion cubic feet for all lower 48 states; the current storage is 1.2% below the 5-year average and 11.50% below the storage during the same week in 2012. The latest injection was higher than the five year average and last year’s: During the same week in July 2012 the natural gas injection was only 26 Bcf, and the five year average injection to storage for the same week of July was 59 Bcf. This week’s injection was mostly due to the Eastern consuming region, in which the injection was 44 Bcf. Perhaps the lower than average injection may have contributed to the decline in natural gas prices during the week.
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