Span

The natural gas storage situation went from overweight to obese in the span of one week as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Thursday morning that a mere 38 Bcf was withdrawn from underground stores for the week ended Feb. 3. As it turns out, that was enough to overcome the bullish forecasts for a severe winter storm in the East this weekend, leaving the March natural gas contract to trade down to a new six-month futures low at $7.300 before settling at $7.479, down 25.6 cents from Wednesday.

The natural gas market’s ability to soar nearly $2/MMBtu in the span of a couple weeks despite near record high levels of working gas in storage is part of an annual pattern that is occurring, said energy consultant Stephen Smith of Natchez, MS-based Stephen Smith Energy Associates.

Following a topsy-turvy span of trading in which prices fell Thursday as quickly as they rose Wednesday, natural gas futures sputtered sideways to slightly higher Friday as traders gently covered shorts ahead of the weekend and the Monday expiration of the August contract. August closed 3.4 cents higher at $2.936. For the second day in a row, volume in the gas pit was heavy with an estimated 171,719 contracts changing hands.

Following a topsy-turvy span of trading in which prices fell Thursday as quickly as they rose Wednesday, natural gas futures sputtered sideways to slightly higher Friday as traders gently covered shorts ahead of the weekend and the Monday expiration of the August contract. August closed 3.4 cents higher at $2.936. For the second day in a row, volume in the gas pit was heavy with an estimated 171,719 contracts changing hands.