Natural Gas Inventories Building Slowly

Natural gas futures prices traded down about 0.5% in advance of the EIA’s report, at around $4.79 per million BTUs, and slid further to around $4.75 immediately following the report.

Although spring weather is warming up the United States, weather is still cool in parts of the country and more cool weather is expected next week. The tornadoes in the lower Midwest this week are just the beginning of what could be a rough patch for residents of Tornado Alley. Natural gas inventories will not begin to build substantially until warm weather settles in for good.

The EIA reported that U.S. working stocks of natural gas totaled 981 billion cubic feet, about 984 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 1.97 trillion cubic feet. Working gas in storage totaled 1.77 trillion cubic feet for the same period a year ago. Natural gas inventories are rising again, but they remain well below the bottom of the five-year range.

Here is how stocks of the largest U.S. natural gas producers are reacting to this latest report:

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), the country’s largest producer of natural gas, was down about 0.7% to $101.71, in a 52-week range of $84.79 to $102.57. The high was set Thursday after the company reported first-quarter earnings.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) was down about 0.1%, at $28.71 in a 52-week range of $18.85 to $29.48.

EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) was down 0.3% to $97.65. The 52-week range is $59.00 to $105.50.

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