Daily Market Update March 13, 2017

Early Morning Update

The Apr17 natural gas contract is trading up $0.05 to $3.06.  The Apr17 crude contract is down $0.19 at $48.30.

Summary

Natural gas prices continue to respond to cold weather and lower production.  On Friday, the prompt month settled at $3.008/MMBtu, up 3.4 cents day-over-day.  Analysts fear that the late winter cold in the East and Midwest may cause short-term prices to hover around $3 as production failed to improve over the weekend.  There is hope that prices will fall once again when weather conditions moderate in about two weeks.  The April delivery contract opened this morning at $3.08/MMBtu, up seven cents from last Monday.  Monthly futures for the balance of 2017 are following the same trend, up over ten cents since the beginning of the month.  Seasonal and forward calendar strip pricing has also climbed, most notably in next winter’s pricing.  Calendar strips in PJM and the western power markets have finally begun to feel the effects of bullish gas, bouncing up slightly from last week’s all-time lows.  It’s no surprise that MA and NY are up, as well.

Market Update 031317

Market Settles 031017