Natural gas future price (short term delivery) continued to rally during last week. Based on the recent EIA natural gas storage report, the natural gas storage fell again while the average five years expanded: The NG storage withdrawal was 95 Bcf. In comparison, during the same week last year the injection was 57 Bcf; this withdrawal in the storage might have kept natural gas prices rising. During the previous week, the Henry Hub future (short term delivery) rose again by 2.5%.
Here is a short analysis of the latest shift in natural gas market for the week ending on March 22nd 2013:
Natural Gas Market – March Report
The Nymex Henry Hub Future (short term delivery) increased again during the previous week by 2.47% and by Friday reached $4.02/mmbtu; its average daily shift was 0.51%; its weekly average price was 1.44% above last week’s average price.
The difference between the NG future and spot prices – future minus spot – remained in backwardation during said week.
Natural Gas Charts
The following charts show the developments in Nat Gas future (Nymex Henry Hub) in $/mmbtu between March 25-29.
As seen in the chart above, the NG prices (Henry Hub future and spot) increased again during last week.
In the second chart are the daily percent changes of the Henry Hub spot and Nymex Henry Hub future (short term delivery). The chart shows the price fluctuations of natural gas during last week.
NG Storage Update – EIA Report:
Natural Gas Storage
The underground natural gas storage (Billion Cubic Feet) declined again during last week by 5.06% or by 95 Bcf; the storage reached 1,781 billion cubic feet for all lower 48 states – the lowest level since May 2011; the current storage is only 3.5% above the 5-year average and 26.5% below the storage during the same week in 2012. During the same week in March 2012 the natural gas injection was 57 Bcf, and the five year average injection for the parallel week of March was 10 Bcf. This news is might have helped rally natural gas prices. This week’s withdrawal was mostly driven from Eastern consumption region with a 73 Bcf extraction.
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