Thursday, October 1, 2015

"Natural Gas Breaks Three-Year Low"

$2.4260 down 9.8 cents.
From the Wall Street Journal:
The U.S. EIA said producers added 98 billion cubic feet of natural gas to storage last week 
Natural gas plummeted to a new three-year low as heavy surpluses deepen a selloff.
It is the latest leg down for a commodity that has struggled for years under the weight of a record-setting oil-and-gas boom. Production has hovered around all-time highs for about a year, which eventually became too much for prices that had managed to stabilize and outperform most other commodities for the past several months. 
Prices for the front-month November contract fell 9.1 cents, or 3.6%, to $2.433 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It is the largest one-day loss in seven weeks and the lowest settlement since June 13, 2012. 
Gas had managed to tread water this summer and even briefly hit a bull market in the spring because of surging demand from power plants that are switching away from coal. But in recent weeks that demand has subsided along with hot weather and the use of air conditioners, causing surpluses to build up and prices to fall. 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Thursday morning that producers added 98 billion cubic feet of natural gas to storage in the week ended Sept. 25. It follows a 106-bcf addition last week, the largest weekly additions since early June....MORE
Previously:
Sept. 14
Natural Gas: This Could be The Year Prices Go Down In Winter
Combine an El Niño winter with an uptick in production and you've got dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria at the NYMEX, etc....

Sept. 4
Natural Gas: EIA Weekly Supply/Demand Report
As we enter the autumn shoulder season, our obsessive preoccupation with supply gives way to El Niño and whither/whether weather.
More on that next week....