Natural Gas Price Dips Following Inventory Report

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Thursday morning that U.S. natural gas stocks decreased by 178 billion cubic feet for the week ending January 15. Analysts were expecting a storage withdrawal of around 150 billion cubic feet. The five-year average for the week is a withdrawal of around 160 billion cubic feet, and last year’s withdrawal for the week totaled 220 billion cubic feet. The withdrawal from storage totaled 168 billion cubic feet in the previous week.

Natural gas futures for February delivery traded up about 2.6% in advance of the EIA’s report, at around $2.17 per million BTUs, and traded around $11 after the data release. Last Thursday, natural gas closed at $2.14 per million BTUs, and over the past four trading days the high for natural gas futures was posted on Tuesday at $2.17 per million BTUs. The 52-week range for natural gas is $1.80 to $3.47. One year ago the price for a million BTUs was around $3.47.

A major winter storm is aimed at the East Coast of the United States Thursday and is expected to push temperatures down for the next couple of days. Another cold blast is expected next week in the Midwest and along the East Coast, while temperatures along the West Coast are expected to be slightly warmer than normal.

Stockpiles are about 23.6% above their levels of a year ago and about 16.7% above the five-year average.

The EIA reported that U.S. working stocks of natural gas totaled about 3.297 trillion cubic feet, around 473 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 2.824 trillion cubic feet and 629 billion cubic feet above last year’s total for the same period. Working gas in storage totaled 2.668 trillion cubic feet for the same period a year ago.

Here’s how share prices of the largest U.S. natural gas producers reacting to Thursday’s report:

Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), the country’s largest producer of natural gas, traded up about 0.12%, at $73.27 in a 52-week range of $66.55 to $93.45.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) traded down about 0.6% to $3.30. The stock’s 52-week range is $2.69 to $21.49.

EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE: EOG) traded up about 1.8% to $61.33. The 52-week range is $57.15 to $101.36.

Furthermore, the United States Natural Gas ETF (NYSEMKT: UNG) traded down about 1.5%, at $7.73 in a 52-week range of $6.91 to $15.28.