Daily Market Update February 18, 2020
Early Morning Update
The Mar20 natural gas contract is trading up $0.12 at $1.96. The Mar20 crude oil contract is down $1.00 at $51.05.
Summary
Last week, the prompt month closed out the week at $1.837/MMBtu, which, despite being up a penny on the day, was $0.02 lower than the beginning of the week. However, over the weekend, the prompt month rallied $0.10 despite warmer-than-normal temperatures across the Midcon region and the Northeast and a drop in Res/Comm demand this past week. In the past couple of months, low demand, coupled with above-normal temps, have been some of the drivers for lower natural gas pricing. However, market analysts are wondering if producers are finally feeling the blow of below-breakeven level pricing and are pulling back on production. Additionally, longer term weather forecasts are showing colder-than-normal temperatures spreading across all of the western U.S., which may be a factor in rising prompt month pricing.