Withdrawal

Natural gas futures scooted higher Thursday morning after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a storage withdrawal that was greater than what the market was expecting.

For the holiday-shortened trading week physical natural gas managed to keep on trucking higher as nearly all sections of the country recorded about a dime gain. The only region of the nation not in the plus column was the Northeast, and at the end of the three-day trading week the NGI National Weekly Spot Gas Average had added 11 cents to $3.63.

Natural gas futures surged past $3 Wednesday morning after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a storage withdrawal that was not what the market was expecting.

September natural gas is expected to open a penny higher Thursday morning at $2.81 as traders mull forecasts of Thursday’s government storage report coming in as low as the single digits. Overnight oil markets fell.

Record-high natural gas power burn was the driving factor behind last week’s unusual 6 Bcf summer storage withdrawal, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

If limitations can be removed at California’s now-closed largest natural gas storage facility, an increase in withdrawal capacity could lower, if not eliminate, the risk of gas curtailments leading to rolling power outages during peak demand days this summer, according to a state-mandated report released on Wednesday.

In a 72-page report released on Monday, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission concluded that the billions of gallons of water withdrawn by the oil and natural gas industry in Northeast Pennsylvania have had no significant impacts on the quality of the basin’s water resources.

In a 72-page report released on Monday, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission concluded that the billions of gallons of water withdrawn by the oil and natural gas industry in Northeast Pennsylvania have had no significant impacts on the quality of the basin’s water resources.

May natural gas is set to open unchanged at $2 Thursday morning as traders expect a government storage report to show a wider degree of variability than normal compared to industry estimates. Overnight oil markets were mixed.