Daily Market Update June 14, 2018
Early Morning Update
The Jul18 natural gas contract is trading flat to yesterday’s close at $2.96. The Jul18 crude contract is up $0.36 at $67.00.
Summary
Prompt month natural gas prices rose again yesterday on warmer weather outlooks and an anticipated lower-than-average growth in storage inventories. The July NYMEX contract climbed 2.4 cents on Wednesday, settling at $2.963/MMBtu. The National Weather Service is forecasting warmer-than-normal temperatures across most of the country for the next two weeks, with only the Southeast and the Rocky Mountains seeing slightly below-normal temps. Overall gas demand will remain elevated with the hot weather, which should, in turn, keep prices buoyed near the top of their recent trading range. A survey of market analysts show estimates for the weekly storage build to be reported this morning by the U.S. Energy Information Administration ranging from 81 to 95 Bcf, with a consensus at 88 Bcf. This would be a little smaller than the 91 Bcf five-year average injection. Storage stockpiles currently sit at 1,817 Bcf, and a build at consensus would increase the deficit to the five-year average to 515 Bcf, while trimming the deficit to last year for the same week to 793 Bcf.