US natural gas futures fell 3 percent on Thursday after the government reported a seventh super-sized addition to storage, pressuring the front-month contract to the lowest expiration price since the December contract expired in late November. Utilities added 110 billion cubic feet of gas into storage last week, the US Energy Information Administration reported. It was a record seventh straight build over 100 bcf and well above analysts' estimates in a Reuters poll for a 102-bcf build.
It also exceeded the 94-bcf build in the same week a year earlier and the 81-bcf five-year average build. Total gas in storage was at 1.829 trillion cubic feet on June 20, an 11-year low for that time of year. "With warm weather just beginning to roll in, there has not been any significant call on (gas) for cooling-related demand so far this year, contributing to the string of triple-digit injections so far this season," said Dominick Chirichella of Energy Management Institute.
The July contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange slid 15.3 cents, or 3.3 percent, to expire at $4.40 per million British thermal units, the lowest expiration since the December contract. On its last trading day, the July contract eased from a high of $4.597 to $4.35 per mmBtu, the lowest since late May. The contract neared, but did not break, the 200-day moving average. The last time front-month gas moved below the 200-day average was November 2013, according to Reuters data.
The August contract, meanwhile, which becomes the front-month contract Friday, fell 2.8 percent to $4.441 per mmBtu. "Natural gas prices are unlikely to dip under $4.30 because they must avoid direct competition with coal," said Aaron Calder of Gelber & Associates. Over the next two weeks, US weather models forecast slightly above-normal temperatures with 195 cooling degree days, down from 202 forecast Wednesday, versus a normal 184 for this time of year, according to Thomson Reuters Analytics.
Next-day gas at the Henry Hub, the benchmark US supply point, fell 2 cents to average $4.55 per mmBtu on the IntercontinentalExchange. In New York, next-day gas fell 36 cents to average $3.71 per mmBtu. In the West, gas at the SoCal Border eased 3 cents to $4.73. On the electricity front, next-day PJM West power in the Mid-Atlantic rose 36 cents to average $53.86 per megawatt-hour. In Texas, Ercot North power eased 27 cents to $40.56 per MWh. In the West, power fell, with SP-15 Hub in Southern California easing $1.23 to $47 and Mid-Columbia Hub in the Pacific Northwest falling $5.74 to $27.03 per MWh.
Comments
Comments are closed.