U. S. natural Gas reserves above expectations
2023.01.26 11:58
U. S. natural Gas reserves above expectations
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – According to government data that showed little market enthusiasm for pushing fuel prices higher from 21-month lows, utilities drew a higher-than-expected 91 bcf, or billion cubic feet, from the United States for heating and electricity generation last week.
Investing.com’s analysts had anticipated that the Energy Information Administration (EIA) would report a draw of 82 billion cubic feet for the week ending January 20, which would be identical to the consumption that was observed in the week prior to January 13.
Twenty minutes after the EIA released its data on Thursday at 10:30 ET (15:30 GMT), the front-month gas contract on the Henry Hub of the New York Mercantile Exchange was down 17 cents, or 5.8%, to $2.745 per mmBtu.
Prior to that, the benchmark gas futures had fallen to $2.706, their lowest level since April 2021.
The United States has significantly less heating demand than usual as a result of an unusually warm start to the winter of 2022/23, leaving more gas in storage than initially thought. According to EIA data, U.S. gas storage had increased from 2.622 tcf a year earlier to 2.729 tcf at the end of the week.
Gas prices have fallen from a 14-year high of $10 per mmBtu in August to $7 in December and almost to mid-$2 levels now in response to the data, despite increasing forecasts for a bitterly cold February.
