Natural Gas Prices - Dec 21

[dan_s]

Natural gas prices rebounded today because the "warm-up" after Christmas is now just expected to be a return to "normal". The thing you should all do is check the Chicago 10-day forecast each day at this website: https://www.wunderground.com/us/il/chic ... 90.1.99999

As you can see, the high in Chicago on 12/26 is expected to be 50 degrees, but then the temps drop into 20-30 range for the next five days. Another thing to watch is wind speed. Cold winds can have a big impact on heating demand.

On Joe Bastardi's website ( http://www.weatherbell.com/premium/ ) he is now forecasting near normal temps in the eastern U.S. from Christmas through mid-January. Then he expects colder than normal for the U.S. from mid-January through March.

Chicago is the city to watch because it is the center for the area which burns the most gas for residential space heating.

Remember, all we need is a normal winter to get natural gas storage below the 5-year average because overall demand for gas is much higher than it was five years ago. In fact, it is approximately 8 Bcf per day higher. Plus, gas production is lower than it was a year-ago. About 2 Bcf per day lower.