Following yesterday's big drop the front futures are down another 6.1 cents at $2.645.
Overview:
(For the Week Ending Wednesday, May 20, 2015)
- The prices of natural gas at most market locations fell over the report week (Wednesday, May 20 — Wednesday, May 27). The Henry Hub spot price began the week at $2.99 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday, fell through the week, and ended at $2.82/MMBtu.
- At the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the June contract, which expired yesterday as the near-month contract, fell from $2.915/MMBtu last Wednesday to settle at expiration at $2.815/MMBtu yesterday.
- Working natural gas in storage increased to 2,101 Bcf as of Friday, May 22, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report (WNGSR). A net injection into storage of 112 Bcf for the week resulted in storage 54.0% above a year ago and 0.8% below the five-year average for this week.
- The total oil and natural gas rig count fell by 3 units to 885 for the week ending Friday, May 22, according to data from Baker Hughes Inc. The oil rig count fell 1 unit to 659 rigs, and the natural gas rig count fell by 1 unit to 222. Miscellaneous rigs also fell by 1.
- The natural gas plant liquids composite price fell by 26¢ per MMBtu to $5.16/MMBtu for the week ending May 22. With the exception of ethane, which rose 0.3%, all of the other Mont Belvieu, Texas, liquids prices fell this week. Natural gasoline, propane, butane, and isobutane fell by 1.5%, 7.6%, 8.3%, and 7.7%, respectively....
....Storage
Net storage injection is larger than the five-year average build but lower than last year. The net injection reported for the week ending May 22 was 112 Bcf, up from 92 Bcf the previous week. This compares with the five-year average net increase of 95 Bcf for that week and last year's net increase of 113 Bcf. Working gas inventories for the storage week totaled 2,101 Bcf, 737 Bcf (54.0%) higher than last year at this time and 18 Bcf (0.8%) lower than the five-year (2010-14) average.
Storage injections are larger than market expectations. Market expectations, on average, called for a build of 99 Bcf. When the EIA storage report was released at 10:30 a.m. on May 28, the price for the July natural gas futures contract, on its first day of trading as the prompt month, decreased 5¢ to $2.74/MMBtu in trading on the Nymex. In the next hour, prices oscillated between $2.71 and $2.74.
...MUCH MOREFrom the week ending April 3 (the beginning of the injection season) through the week ending May 22, net storage injections totaled 640 Bcf, or 21% more than the 531 Bcf injected during the same eight weeks in 2014....
