for week ending December 4, 2019 | Release date: December 5, 2019
...Overview:....MUCH MORE
(For the week ending Wednesday, December 4, 2019)
- Natural gas spot prices fell at most locations this report week (Wednesday, November 27 to Wednesday, December 4). The Henry Hub spot price rose from $2.33 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) last Wednesday to $2.37/MMBtu yesterday.
- At the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), the December 2019 contract expired November 26 at $2.470/MMBtu. The price of the January 2020 contract decreased 10¢, from $2.501/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.399/MMBtu yesterday. The price of the 12-month strip averaging January 2020 through December 2020 futures contracts declined 7¢/MMBtu to $2.333/MMBtu.
- The net withdrawal from working gas totaled 19 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ending November 29. Working natural gas stocks total 3,591 Bcf, which is 20% more than the year-ago level and the same as the five-year (2014–18) average for this week.
- The natural gas plant liquids composite price at Mont Belvieu, Texas, fell by 27¢/MMBtu, averaging $5.77/MMBtu for the week ending December 4. The prices of ethane, butane, isobutane, natural gasoline, and propane, all fell, by 8%, 7%, 5%, 4%, and 2%, respectively.
- According to Baker Hughes, for the week ending Tuesday, November 26, the natural gas rig count decreased by 2 to 131. The number of oil-directed rigs fell by 3 to 688. The total rig count decreased by 5, and it now stands at 802.
Prices/Supply/Demand:
Prices trade in narrow ranges with unseasonably warm temperatures. This report week (Wednesday, November 27 to Wednesday, December 4), the Henry Hub spot price traded within a narrow range and rose 4¢ from $2.33/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.37/MMBtu yesterday. Temperatures were generally warmer than normal across most of the Lower 48 states. At the Chicago Citygate, the price decreased 6¢ from $2.25/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.19/MMBtu yesterday.
Prices in the Pacific Northwest fall as Enbridge pipeline is cleared to return to full operating pressure. The price at Sumas on the Canada-Washington border fell $2.11 from a high of $4.93/MMBtu last Wednesday to $2.82/MMBtu yesterday. On November 28, the Canada Energy Regulator approved the Enbridge Westcoast 36-inch line to return to full operating pressure, following an October 2018 explosion.
California prices fall following high demand over the holiday weekend. The price at PG&E Citygate in Northern California fell 35¢ from a high of $3.63/MMBtu last Wednesday to $3.28/MMBtu yesterday. The price at SoCal Citygate in Southern California decreased 68¢ from a high of $5.80/MMBtu last Wednesday to a low of $5.12/MMBtu yesterday. Southern California withdrew an estimated 3.4 Bcf from Aliso Canyon during the report week, or 4% of its reserves, to meet demand. The volumes withdrawn, which placed upward pressure on prices, eased throughout the week. The In the News section of this report provides additional analysis on Southern California.
Northeast prices decline. At the Algonquin Citygate, which serves Boston-area consumers, the price went down 85¢ from $4.63/MMBtu last Wednesday to a low of $3.78/MMBtu yesterday. At the Transcontinental Pipeline Zone 6 trading point for New York City, the price decreased 4¢ from $2.40/MMBtu last Wednesday to a low of $2.36/MMBtu yesterday.
The Tennessee Zone 4 Marcellus spot price was constant week over week at $1.79/MMBtu. The price at Dominion South in southwest Pennsylvania fell 5¢ from $1.85/MMBtu last Wednesday to $1.80/MMBtu yesterday....
As we've noted, this year the LNG export numbers can really make a difference in the injection/withdrawal from storage figures:
...U.S. LNG exports decrease week over week. Ten liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels (five from Sabine Pass; two from Corpus Christi; and one each from Cove Point, Cameron, and Freeport) with a combined LNG-carrying capacity of 36 Bcf departed the United States between November 28 and December 4, according to shipping data compiled by Bloomberg. Four vessels (one each at Sabine Pass, Corpus Christi, Cameron, and Freeport) were loading on Wednesday.Today's storage report showed a withdrawal of 19 Bcf i.e. without exports there would have been a build, in December, of inventory!
There is a lot of gas around.
