Natural gas futures were trading up about 0.5% in advance of the EIA’s report, at around $4.00 per million BTUs, and fell to around $3.92 immediately following the report. Natural gas futures have slipped by about $0.03 per million BTUs since last week.
Stockpiles are about 9.4% below their levels of a year ago and about 9.9% below the five-year average. The U.S. natural gas injection season ends in two weeks, and unless there are a couple of massive injections, an earlier estimate of 3.55 trillion cubic feet in storage by the beginning of November looks doubtful. Last year’s injection season ended with 3.8 trillion cubic feet in inventory.
Natural gas prices slipped a little after last week’s inventory report and the prospects for warmer temperatures. The northern states may see some cooler temperatures this week, increasing demand for heating. However the weather has not been cool enough for long enough to generate a significant increase in natural gas prices.
The EIA reported that U.S. working stocks of natural gas totaled 3.3 trillion cubic feet, about 362 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 3.66 trillion cubic feet. Working gas in storage totaled 3.64 trillion cubic feet for the same period a year ago. Natural gas inventories continue to rise, but remain below the bottom of the five-year range.
Here is how stocks of the largest U.S. natural gas producers reacted to this latest report:
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), the country’s largest producer of natural gas, was up about 0.1%, at $90.27 in a 52-week range of $86.84 to $104.76.
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) was up nearly 14%m at $20.21 in a 52-week range of $16.69 to $29.92. Chesapeake announced the sale of $5.4 billion in assets Thursday morning, cheering investors.
EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) was up about 2% to $89.97. The 52-week range is $78.01 to $118.89.
The U.S. Natural Gas ETF (NYSEMKT: UNG) was down about 1.2%, at $20.19 in a 52-week range of $16.91 to $27.89.
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