August

With bearish production pressuring prices, the natural gas futures market brushed aside another leaner-than-expected build from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) Thursday that showed deficits growing as August approaches. In the spot market, Southern California and Desert Southwest points continued to trade at elevated levels as conditions in the region remain hot; the NGI National Spot Gas Average finished even at $2.91/MMBtu.

The August natural gas futures contract was set to open Wednesday about 2.3 cents higher at around $2.755/MMBtu, building on the prior day’s modest gains as forecasters noted little change to the weather outlook overnight.

August natural gas futures were set to open Thursday about a penny higher at around $2.880/MMBtu as forecasters over the Independence Day holiday noted warmer changes to the outlook for mid-July.

August natural gas futures were set to open Tuesday near even at around $2.863/MMBtu following Monday’s declines, with record-level production and expectations for recent summer heat to ease, keeping the bears in the driver’s seat for now.

For a third consecutive month, U.S. dry natural gas production increased year/year (y/y) in August to 2.28 Tcf, a 1.6% increase from August 2016, but production through the first eight months of 2017 still trails last year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Natural gas trading volumes reported to the Mexican energy regulator in August more than doubled over the previous month.

What a difference a week makes. Just a week after plunging by the double digits, natural gas September forward prices vaulted an average 22 cents from Aug. 4 to 10 as weather forecasts became more convincing that the United States will experience more hot weather for the second half of August and into the first week of September.

August natural gas is set to open unchanged Wednesday morning at $3.08 as overnight near-term weather data changed little. Oil markets firmed.

The nation’s seven most prolific onshore unconventional plays are expected to produce more natural gas and oil in August than in July, continuing an upward trend that has held steady for most of 2017, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).