Natural gas storage revisions, a sizeable injection and continued weakness in crude futures teamed up Thursday to pull the June natural gas futures contract lower in its first regular session as prompt month. June natural gas hit a low of $6.780 before settling at $6.805, down 46.6 cents on the day. The June contract has shed $1.605 over the last six sessions.

June natural gas futures traded lower in Wednesday night Access trading as rumors of a bearish natural gas storage revision swirled throughout the industry. The rumors turned out to be true as the Energy Information Administration reported that 80 Bcf was injected for the week ended April 21 and that 10 Bcf was added to the injection figure for the week ended April 14.

Just as natural gas followed crude higher the past couple of weeks, it is now being helped lower by crude’s recent weakness. June crude reached a low of $70.75/bbl on Thursday before settling at $70.97/bbl, down 96 cents on the day.

After gapping sharply lower at the opening bell to $7.050 from $7.271 on Wednesday, the June natural gas contract traded mostly sideways, reaching a morning low of $6.95 but then popping up to $7.10 just after the storage report.

The EIA said working gas levels rose 80 Bcf last week to 1,851 Bcf on Friday, April 21, compared to 1,771 Bcf a week earlier. The 1,771 Bcf figure was revised upward by 10 Bcf from the 1,761 Bcf EIA reported last week. EIA said the revision reflected submissions of data and reclassifications of base gas to working gas by one or more respondents.

“I think Dominion made an announcement that they underreported last week,” said Ed Kennedy of Commercial Brokerage Corp. “But the thing is, [the net storage injection] was right in line with what people were looking for. ICAP had 81 Bcf, and those are the people who actually trade; that’s why we are not seeing much of a response to it.”

Dominion spokesman Dan Donovan confirmed that Dominion revised last week’s storage number by 5 Bcf. “On Tuesday, we revised our number and reported it to the EIA,” Donovan said. “I guess the EIA saw fit not to revise it midweek and waited until Thursday.”

CenterPoint Energy told NGI that it revised its storage number for the previous week by 3 Bcf. “The 3 Bcf amount was really no more than reclassifying cushion gas into working gas,” said Leticia Lowe, a spokeswoman with CenterPoint Energy.

“The revised stock estimate for April 14 reflects resubmissions of data and reclassification between base gas and working gas reported by one or more responders,” an EIA spokeswoman said. “The EIA does not divulge any detailed information regarding revisions, including the number of companies, which may compromise the confidentiality of a respondent.”

Kennedy said the gap lower at the opening bell was probably in response to weaker cash prices. The May contract also went off the board Wednesday at $7.198. “Lower end-of-the-month cash was really caused by some book balancing. I’m waiting to see what June cash looks like,” said Kennedy.

“I think the market will go take a look at support…and see what kind of support is there. To be honest with you, I don’t think we’ll go below that,” he said.

Commercial Brokerage’s Tom Saal said he had been looking for a skinnier injection than the one reported by the EIA. “I think the number was definitely bearish,” he said. “That really helped to push the market down and now we are firmly back within that trading range from the beginning of the year. Once some demand shows up, prices will pick up, but for right now, the market is kind of where it should be.”

Looking to the downside, Saal said the $6.65 price level still looms large. “We traded it a couple of times over the last few months but it held,” he said. “However, for the bearish scenario…the more times you test a number the weaker it gets and the better chance you have of getting through it.” On the upside, Saal said “psychological seven” is likely to offer short-term resistance. Looking at trading Friday, Saal said with six consecutive trading days lower, he is expecting some short-covering to take the market into the weekend.

The addition of a net 90 Bcf to working gas levels compared to what was announced last week, leaves storage 32% higher (445 Bcf) than the same time last year and 62% above the five-year average. Working gas levels in the key eastern consuming region are 48% higher than they were at the same time last year.

The 80 Bcf injection for the week ended April 21 beat last year’s 70 Bcf injection and the five-year average build of 58 Bcf. For the week, the EIA reported a 49 Bcf injection in the East, a 24 Bcf injection in the Producing region and a 7 Bcf injection in the West.

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