Daily Market Update April 17, 2018
Early Morning Update
The May18 natural gas contract is trading down $0.01 at $2.74. The May18 crude contract is down $0.37 at $65.85.
Summary
As cold weather firmly embraces the eastern half of the country once again, demand for natural gas rose 2.4 Bcf/d from Monday to 86.5 Bcf/d, almost entirely due to a 2.9 Bcf/d increase in Res/Comm demand. The increased demand for gas has renewed concerns that storage levels, already almost 22% in deficit to the five-year average, could sink lower before rebuilding begins. The market is currently estimating a 33 Bcf pull from storage to be reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration this week, which is a complete reversal from the 38 Bcf injection normally seen for this time of year. Dry production has remained relatively stable, but imports from Canada were down 0.5 Bcf/d day-over-day. All of this has provided plenty of support for May natural gas prices, which rose 1.7 cents to settle at $2.752/MMBtu yesterday. However, the market is anticipating most of this to change in the coming weeks as temperatures warm, demand tempers, and a rising rig count indicates increased production.
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