The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Thursday morning that U.S. natural gas stocks increased by 92 billion cubic feet for the week ending May 15. Analysts expected a storage injection (increase) of around 97 billion cubic feet. The five-year average for the week is an increase of around 89 billion cubic feet.
Natural gas futures for June delivery traded up about 1.3% in advance of the EIA’s report, at around $2.95 per million BTUs, and jumped to around $3.05 (up about 4.4% for the day) following release of the report. Last Thursday, natural gas closed at $3.01 per million BTUs, and natural gas futures rose as high as $3.10 earlier this week. The 52-week low for natural gas futures is $2.48. One year ago, the price for a million BTUs was around $4.10.
Demand for heating is expected to be low for the rest of this week and into next as warmer temperatures move into the Great Lakes and Northeast regions. That warm air is expected to spread south and increased the demand for cooling in the Southeast. In the West, the weather is expected to be unsettled with cool temperatures and some rain showers.
Natural gas stockpiles are about 59% above their levels of a year ago and about 1.7% below the five-year average.
The EIA reported that U.S. working stocks of natural gas totaled about 1.989 trillion cubic feet, around 35 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 2.024 trillion cubic feet and 738 billion cubic feet above last year’s total for the same period. Working gas in storage totaled 1.251 trillion cubic feet for the same period a year ago.
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Here is how stocks of the largest U.S. natural gas producers reacted to the latest report:
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), the country’s largest producer of natural gas, traded down about 0.1%, at $87.04 in a 52-week range of $82.68 to $104.76.
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) traded up about 2.3%, at $15.09 in a 52-week range of $13.38 to $29.92.
EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) traded up about 0.7% to $91.09. The 52-week range is $81.07 to $118.89.
In addition, the United States Natural Gas ETF (NYSEMKT: UNG) traded up 1.8%, at $14.72 in a 52-week range of $12.28 to $26.42.
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