Forward Look

Natural gas forward prices in the U.S. Northeast nearly wiped out last week’s gains as strong production, robust storage and unsteady demand swept the rug out from under markets during the period between Dec. 31 and Jan. 7, according to NGI’s Forward Look.

Natural gas forwards were up by the double-digits for the period between Dec. 24 and 30 as more sustained cold weather finally arrived, dropping temperatures, bolstering demand and causing freeze-offs in parts of the country.

Natural gas forwards markets continued to post steep, double-digit losses for the period between Dec. 11 and 17, even as a brief weather system expected to hit the U.S. Northeast over the weekend provided a late-week surge to prices in that region.

Natural gas forwards markets continued to don their holiday red for the period between Nov. 30 and Dec. 3 as the first storage withdrawal of the winter season wasn’t enough to offset the effects of persistent mild weather in much of the United States.

Natural gas fixed prices for December were up at most market hubs between Nov. 20 and 24 as a temporary bump in demand trumped yet another build in storage inventories, NGI’s Forward Lookdata shows.

Another build in natural gas storage inventories and a winter that refuses to stick around longer than a few days at a time pushed already weak natural gas forwards markets even lower for the period between Nov. 13 and 19, according to NGI’s Forward Look.

Natural gas bulls will likely stay penned up this winter ifNGI’s Forward Look data are to be believed. In the worst winter natural gas price outlook since 2012, the balance of winter forward curve pricing for Algonquin Citygate — a good barometer of Northeastern pricing — looks awfully flat, with price projections less than half of what they were a year ago.

After three weeks of bullish misses on storage, natural gas forwards markets finally saw a bump in prices that lifted most markets by less than five cents, according to NGI’s Forward Lookdata from Oct. 30-Nov. 5.

For the second straight week, forwards markets moved lower for the period between Oct. 23 and Oct. 29 even after a bullish surprise storage report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).