Natural gas market changed direction again and natural gas prices slipped during last week. The Henry Hub future price (short term) outperformed the spot price during the second part of last week. By the end of the week the Henry Hub spot price declined to $3.55/ MMbtu. The Nymex Henry Hub Future Price (November delivery) reached $3.63/ MMbtu.
Here is a short review of the main changes in natural gas prices for the week ending on October 21st:
Natural Gas Prices September – Weekly Review and Analysis
Nymex Henry Hub Future Price (November delivery) slightly declined during last week by 1.63% and reached on Friday $3.63/mmbtu; its average daily change was -0.36%, but its weekly average price was 1.14% above the previous week’s average price.
Natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) sharply declined by 4.57% during the week, but its average price was 4.09% above last week’s average price.
The spread 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) shifted from Backwardation during the first part of the week to Contango during the second part of the week, and by Friday the gap was $0.08, i.e. Contango.
Natural Gas Prices Chart
The following chart shows the daily changes of natural gas prices (Henry Hub) and futures prices (Nymex Henry Hub) in $/mmbtu during October 17- October 21.
The chart shows the weekly development of natural gas spot price and Henry Hub future price as they both had downward trend mainly during the first half of the week.
The second chart presents the daily percent changes of natural gas spot price (Henry Hub) and Nymex Henry Hub future price; they started the week with sharp gains, then fell on Tuesday and made a comeback and slightly inclined on Wednesday and Thursday.
EIA Natural Gas Report – Highlights:
The underground natural gas storage (Billion Cubic Feet) rose for the twenty-eighth straight week; last week by 2.9% or by 103 Bcf; the natural gas storage reached 3,624 billion cubic feet; the current natural gas storage is 1.3% below the storage level during the same week in 2010.
The chart below shows the natural gas storage (weekly figures) and Henry Hub natural gas prices in 2010 and 2011:
To sum up, natural gas storage, production consumption and imports increased during the week of October 14th.
For the complete natural gas market report, see here.
For further reading:
Previous issues of weekly report: