The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Thursday morning that U.S. natural gas stocks decreased by 158 billion cubic feet for the week ending February 12. Analysts were expecting a storage withdrawal of around 87 billion cubic feet. The five-year average for the week is a withdrawal of around 176 billion cubic feet, and last year’s withdrawal for the week totaled 110 billion cubic feet. The withdrawal from storage totaled 70 billion cubic feet in the previous week.
Natural gas futures for March delivery traded down about 3.2% in advance of the EIA’s report, at around $1.88 per million BTUs, and traded around $1.89 after the data release. Last Thursday, natural gas closed at $1.99 per million BTUs, and over the past four trading days the high for natural gas futures was also posted Thursday at $2.09 per million BTUs. The 52-week range for natural gas is $1.87 to $3.41, and the low was posted Thursday morning. One year ago the price for a million BTUs was around $3.32.
Warmer temperatures have already dampened demand this week, and as temperatures rise in along the Atlantic coast over the next few days, demand for natural gas is expected to be low. Cold air streaming south out of Canada is expected to blast through the Midwest and Northeast later next week, and that should pump up demand somewhat.
Stockpiles are about 25% above their levels of a year ago and about 23.4% above the five-year average.
The EIA reported that U.S. working stocks of natural gas totaled about 2.706 trillion cubic feet, around 555 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 2.151 trillion cubic feet and 532 billion cubic feet above last year’s total for the same period. Working gas in storage totaled 2.174 trillion cubic feet for the same period a year ago.
Here’s how share prices 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, traded up about 1.1%, at $82.89 in a 52-week range of $66.55 to $90.42.
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) traded up about 5.1% to $1.98. The stock’s 52-week range is $1.50 to $20.65.
EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) traded down about 0.5% to $70.48. The 52-week range is $57.15 to $101.36.
In addition, the United States Natural Gas ETF (NYSEMKT: UNG) traded down about 2.2%, at $7.02 in a 52-week range of $6.90 to $15.28. The low was posted Thursday morning.
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