Natural Gas Update

By Roger Baettig | August 30 2012 3:25 PM

Natural gas prices generally registered overall decreases for the report week (Wednesday to Wednesday) at many of the country's trading locations. The Henry Hub price, which remained fairly steady through much of the week, dropped 8 cents per million British thermal units (MMBtu) on Tuesday and an additional 9 cents per MMBtu yesterday, closing at $2.63 per MMBtu (down 17 cents per MMBtu for the week).

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The natural gas futures market trended significantly downward throughout the week before rebounding at week's end. At the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the September 2012 natural gas contract lost 19.2 cents per MMBtu to close at $2.634 per MMBtu yesterday.

Working natural gas in storage rose last week to 3,374 Bcf as of Friday, August 24, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report (WNGSR). An implied storage build of 66 Bcf for the week positioned storage volumes 429 Bcf above year-ago levels.

The natural gas rotary rig count, as reported by Baker Hughes Incorporated on August 24, increased by 2 to 486 active units. Meanwhile, oil-directed rigs dropped by 17 to 1,408 units.

Economist Shayne Heffernan of www.livetradingnews.com Market Outlook

Shayne Heffernan

Shayne Heffernan oversees the management of funds for institutions and high net worth individuals.

Shayne Heffernan holds a Ph.D. in Economics and brings with him over 25 years of trading experience in Asia and hands on experience in Venture Capital, he has been involved in several start ups that have seen market capitalization over $500m and 1 that reached a peak market cap of $15b. He has managed and overseen start ups in Mining, Shipping, Technology and Financial Services.Read the Terms of Service