EiA - Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report - Aug 8

[dan_s]

Working gas in storage was 2,689 Bcf as of Friday, August 2, 2019, according to EIA estimates.
This represents a net increase of 55 Bcf from the previous week.
Stocks were 343 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 111 Bcf below the five-year average of 2,800 Bcf.
At 2,689 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.

Heat wave over eastern U.S. for last half of August should increase demand for power generation.

If storage goes over the 5-year average in Sept. we may see the NYMEX front month go below $2.00. September and October NYMEX contracts are trading at $2.14 today. Future contracts always trade higher in October as the weather cools off.

We have about 4,300 Bcf of natural gas storage capacity in the U.S. and the 5-year average at the beginning of the winter heating season is 3,732 Bcf in storage by mid-November. We need at least 3,200 Bcf in storage to make is safely through a cold winter.