Natural-gas futures turned higher Thursday, after the Energy Information Administration reported a 14 billion cubic foot decline in U.S. inventories for the week ended April 5. That was a bit below estimates. Analysts polled by Platts forecast a decline between 20 billion cubic feet and 24 billion.
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Changing oil market dynamics appear set to reduce the wide price differential between Brent crude oil and WTI that developed within the past few years, the Energy Information Administration said in its latest Short-Term Energy and Summer Fuels Outlook. These global benchmark crude oil grades are also expected to generally decrease in price from the averages seen last year, while US natural gas prices move well above the historic lows recorded last April.
“EIA expects that the Brent crude oil spot price, which averaged $112 per barrel in 2012 and rose to $119 per barrel in early February 2013, will average $108 per barrel in 2013 and $101 per barrel in 2014. The projected discount of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil to Brent, which increased to a monthly average of more than $20 per barrel in February 2013, is forecast to average $14 per barrel in 2013 and $9 per barrel in 2014, as planned new pipeline capacity lowers the cost of moving midâ€Âcontinent crude oil to the Gulf Coast refining centers,” the EIA said in the report. Keep reading →
Hopes that the advent of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the United States to Europe could help bring down European prices may prove misguided, according to VTB Capital’s head of energy research, Colin Smith.
“Is US LNG going to cut gas prices in Europe? Probably not by very much, if at all,” Smith said at the VTB Capital New York Investment Forum on April 10. Keep reading →
The EIA’s Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report released this morning showed a net decline of 95 Bcf from the previous week – a larger withdrawal than analysts expected – which is usually a bullish market indicator, but the prompt month NYMEX natural gas futures contract had declined slightly by mid-day.
“Stocks were 642 Bcf less than last year at this time and 61 Bcf above the 5-year average of 1,720 Bcf. In the East Region, stocks were 41 Bcf below the 5-year average following net withdrawals of 73 Bcf,” according to the EIA report. Keep reading →
Natural gas has been on fire lately. On Wednesday, it hit the highest level since September 2011, and it’s risen an incredible 113 percent since April.
So can nat gas keep running higher? Keep reading →
The CME Group announced on Tuesday the 7th consecutive open interest record for its benchmark Henry Hub Natural Gas futures contract as prices have been rising from their historic doldrums. The number of open interest contracts on Monday March 25th was 1,399,967.
Open interest refers to the total number of futures contracts that are not closed or delivered on a given day. The recent NYMEX activity appears to indicate that traders and large market participants like hedge funds expect the US natural gas futures contract value to increase over the near term. Keep reading →
It’s the rally you probably haven’t heard about.
The price of natural gas has spiked to its highest level since 2011, advancing 17 percent year-to-date, as supplies declined for 14 consecutive weeks. Keep reading →
Oil Sands Developers: Market Access Issues Weigh Even As Tech Promises Emissions Reductions
By Jared Anderson
It’s telling that a panel discussion about using technology to reduce the environmental impacts associated with Canadian oil sands development ended up mainly being about dire market access issues impacting producers.
At the FT Global Investment Series: Focus on Canada conference held in New York City this week, corporate executives were clearly concerned about reducing greenhouse gas emissions from oil sands projects, but they were also very concerned about the billions of dollars being lost from commodity price differentials between Canadian heavy oil and other grades. Keep reading →
Japan’s recent deal to import US LNG at Henry Hub benchmark prices appears largely symbolic, but is important for the sector as it could represent the beginning of a larger trend away from oil-linked LNG prices for the world’s largest LNG importer.
“They [the deal’s negotiators] were very surprised they were able to pull it off,” a source familiar with the negotiations recently told Breaking Energy. Keep reading →
Natural-gas futures fell Thursday after the Energy Information Administration reported a decline in U.S. inventories that was smaller than expected.
