Daily Market Update March 4, 2021
Early Morning Update
The Apr21 natural gas contract is trading down $0.03 at $2.78. The Apr21 crude oil contract is up $1.22 at $62.50.
Summary
Natural gas producers in Texas have been able to rebound fairly quickly from the sharp decline in production that occurred from the freeze-offs in February. Improved production levels, combined with generally mild weather conditions, are helping to create a more balanced supply and demand picture for the market, which is definitely welcomed after the volatility that ensued just a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, the natural gas market saw minimal softening during yesterday's trading session. The Apr '21 prompt contract lost two cents and closed out yesterday's trading session at $2.816/MMBtu. The rolling 12-month strip moved in tandem, also losing two cents, and most of the forward calendar strips lost a penny or less day-over-day. After expectations of a potentially record-setting storage withdrawal last week, market participants are expecting a much lower withdrawal of 134 Bcf to be reported today. While this is a whopping 204 Bcf decline week-over-week, if actualized at 134 Bcf, the week reported withdrawal for the week to Feb. 26 would still be 53 Bcf and 15 Bcf stronger than the 5-year average and last year, respectively.