Natural Gas Inventory Posts Another Weekly Gain, Prices Remain Low

Natural gas futures prices were trading up about 0.7% in advance of the EIA’s report, at around $3.83 per million BTUs, and rose further to near $3.90 immediately following the report. Natural gas prices fell to an eight-month low of $3.56 per million BTUs earlier this week.

For the same week a year ago, stockpiles rose by 41 billion cubic feet. Stockpiles are about 20.2% below their levels of a year ago and about 23.5% below the five-year average.

Cooler temperatures are expected to continue in the Midwest and the Northeast, and more of the same is expected for next week. Demand for cooling is expected to be low as a result and that should help build inventories for the winter and keep the price of natural gas lower.

The EIA reported that U.S. working stocks of natural gas totaled 2.22 trillion cubic feet, about 683 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 2.9 trillion cubic feet. Working gas in storage totaled 2.78 trillion cubic feet for the same period a year ago. Natural gas inventories continue to rise, but they remain well below the bottom of the five-year range.

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, was up about 0.4%, at $104.66 in a 52-week range of $84.79 to $104.72. The high was set earlier in the morning.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) was up about 1.1%, at $27.38 in a 52-week range of $20.90 to $29.92.

EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) was up fractionally to $115.96. The 52-week range is $70.78 to $118.89.

The United States Natural Gas ETF (NYSEMKT: UNG) was up about 1.7%, at $21.13 in a 52-week range of $16.59 to $27.89.

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