Natural gas market continues to ease down as the demand for natural gas is slowly declining mainly in the residential/commercial sector. During the week, short term future price of natural gas (July delivery; Henry Hub) fell by 2.68%. Based on the recent EIA natural gas storage weekly update, the natural gas storage increased again at a faster rate than the average five years did for this time of the year: The NG storage injection was 91 Bcf. In comparison, the average five years buildup was only 82 Bcf.
Here is a short analysis of the latest changes in natural gas market for the week ending on June 21st 2013:
Natural Gas Market – June Update
During last week, the Nymex Henry Hub Future (short term delivery) fell by 2.68% and reached by Friday $3.77/mmbtu; its average daily change was 0.23%; its weekly average rate was 2.88% below last week’s average price.
The difference between the NG future and spot prices – future minus spot – shifted from Backwardation to Contango during recent weeks.
Natural Gas Charts
The following charts show the developments in Nat Gas future (Nymex Henry Hub) in $/mmbtu between June 17-21.
As seen in the chart above, the natural gas rate (Henry Hub future rate) changed direction and fell by the end of the week.
In the second chart are the daily percent shifts of the Nymex Henry Hub future (short term delivery).
NG Storage Weekly Update – EIA Report:
Natural Gas Storage
The underground natural gas storage (Billion Cubic Feet) increased again during last week by 3.88% or by 91 Bcf; the storage reached 2,438 billion cubic feet for all lower 48 states; the current storage is 1.9% below the 5-year average and 18.7% below the storage during the same week in 2012. During the same week in June 2012 the natural gas injection was 62 Bcf, and the five year average injection to storage for the same week of June was 82 Bcf. This week’s higher than normal injection was mostly due to the Eastern consuming region, in which the injection was 60 Bcf. This high injection is likely to have pressured down natural gas prices in the past couple of days.
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