Daily Market Update February 22, 2022
Early Morning Update
The Mar ‘22 natural gas contract is trading up $0.09 at $4.52. The Mar ‘22 crude oil contract is up $3.03 at $94.10.
Summary
Welcome to February 22, 2022, otherwise noted as 2/22/22.Yesterday, the CME Group observed Presidents Day. While there was some light trading activity, there was no settlement published, in observance of said Holiday. At the time of writing this morning, the NYMEX natural gas prompt-month contract for March is up 10 cents from Friday’s close of $4.53/MMBtu. Weather is a bit of a mixed bag.While parts of the Mid-Continent are experiencing record cold this week, much of the Southeast to Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast are well above average. Temperatures in Boston are expected to reach the low 60’s on Wednesday before a cold front moves through this weekend, sending temperatures plunging back into below-average territory.As such, Res/Comm heating demand is forecast to breach 50 Bcf/day over the next week.However, production of natural gas is up. While the month-to-date average for February is 92.3 Bcf/day, production over the past few days is over 94 Bcf/day.This is a welcomed sign as production has stagnated while demand continues to grow. Much of the demand gains have come from LNG exports, which is averaging 12.5 Bcf/day, up 4.0 Bcf/day versus this time last year. LNG exports hit a new all-tine high of 13.4 Bcf/day last Friday.