Markets

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.

After climbing three straight sessions, natural gas prompt-month forward prices rose an average 15.6 cents between Nov. 18 and 22 as cold weather systems are finally making their way across large portions of the U.S., bringing rain and snow to some areas.

Natural gas for the extended holiday weekend worked lower Wednesday at nearly all market points as weather forecasts called for temperatures at or above seasonal norms.

It may have been a short three-day trading week, but you would never have known it from the size of the weekly gains. All but one point followed by NGI romped higher by double-digits, and the NGI Weekly Spot Gas Average jumped 41 cents to $2.70.

December natural gas is set to open unchanged Tuesday at $2.950 as traders look for additional cold that may act as a catalyst for further price advances. Overnight oil markets were mixed.

The current outlook for crude oil prices is much better than it was six months ago, and Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Janet Yellen’s indication the Fed may increase interest rates soon could further boost those prices, according to Avista Utilities economist Grant Forsyth.

Next-day natural gas prices on Tuesday took a breather from Monday’s meteoric gains and slipped lower as weather forecasts became more uncertain and offered little in the way of added near-term cold. Traders were also preparing for a fresh helping of storage data before Thanksgiving Day as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is set to release its report Wednesday at 12 p.m. Eastern.

Mother Nature threw natural gas markets a bone last week when the mere mention of chilly weather sent December forwards prices up an average 5.5 cents between Nov. 11 and 17, NGI’s Forward Look data shows.

Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. and Centrica LNG Co. Ltd. of the United Kingdom have struck an agreement to optimize LNG cargoes that Tokyo gas procures from the United States and those that Centrica acquires in the Asia Pacific region. “For Tokyo Gas…this…achieves the development of an LNG value chain linking the Asia, North America and Europe regions…” the company said Monday in announcing the arrangement. Kentaro Kimoto, general manager of the gas resources department of Tokyo Gas, said, “Through this tie-up with Centrica, which is a major LNG buyer on the Atlantic market, we expect to conduct flexible LNG trading bridging both the Atlantic and the Pacific markets and to bring greater vitality to the LNG market overall.” Tokyo has signed up for LNG from the Dominion Cove Point LNGterminal in Maryland.