Natural gas report week September 1, 2022.
This week’s injection of 61 Bcf was at the high end of analysts’ expectations which ranged from 49 Bcf to 63 Bcf. Comparatively, last year’s injection was 21 Bcf and the five-year average of net injections is 46 Bcf. Current storage totals 2,640 Bcf which is 11.3% below the five-year average but still within the five-year historical range.
Market activity throughout the report week was mixed with near-term prices declining from last week while 2023 and 2024 gained w-o-w.
Demand
Total demand grew by 2.7 Bcf/d from last week, led by a 5.9% jump in consumption for power generation. LNG export ships decreased by three, totaling 18 on the week for an overall capacity of 67 Bcf, down 12 Bcf from last week.
Production
Production grew slightly over last week, adding 0.6 Bcf/d. The natural gas rig count lost one over last week, totaling 158 rigs. Oil-directed rigs increased by four for a total of 605 rigs.
Storage Forecast
The average rate of injections into storage is 4% lower than the five-year average at this point in refill season (which traditionally runs April through October). If the injection rate matches the five-year average of 10.1 Bcf/d through October 31, natural gas supply will total 3,307 Bcf, 338 Bcf lower than the five-year average of 3,645 Bcf.
September NYMEX: Moved off the board Monday, August 29th, settling the month at $9.353/Dth.
October NYMEX: Settled Thursday at $9.262/Dth, up 13.5 cents from Wednesday’s close at $9.127/Dth, but down 8.2 cents over the prior week.
Settled Thursday at $7.495/Dth, down 23.0 cents from the prior week.
The winter forward (NOV22-MAR23) settled Thursday at $9.058/Dth, down 2.8 cents from last week while the summer strip (APR23-OCT23) settled at $5.906/Dth, up 18.6 cents from last week.
Calendar Years 2022/2023/2024
CY22 settled Thursday at $9.357/Dth, down 6.9 cents from the prior week.
CY23 settled Thursday at $6.694/Dth, up 14.8 cents from the prior week.
CY24 settled Thursday at $5.358/Dth, up 14.1 cents from the prior week.
Settled Thursday at $86.61/barrel, down $5.91 from the prior week.
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