for week ending January 28, 2004 | Release date: January 29, 2004 | Previous weeks
Overview:
Spot
prices in most regional markets ended the week (Wednesday-Wednesday, January
21-28) lower, despite severe cold in the Northeast beginning Friday (January
23) and continuing through the weekend.
As a result, prices in the Northeast market proved the major exception
to the downward trend, as cash prices moved up sharply at most locations in the
region. At the Henry Hub, the spot price
was 23 cents per MMBtu lower on the week, or about 4
percent, ending with yesterday's (Wednesday, January 28) level of $6.04. At the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX),
the futures contract for February delivery showed a modest gain of nearly 6
cents on its final day of trading, closing out at $5.775 per MMBtu. The contract
for March delivery assumes the near-month position beginning today (Thursday,
January 29). The Energy Information
Administration (EIA) reported that natural gas inventories were 2,063 Bcf as of Friday, January 23, which is 8.6 percent greater
than the previous 5-year (1999-2003) average.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil on the spot market fell $1.90 per
barrel, or $0.26 per MMBtu, since last Wednesday
(January 21), ending trading yesterday at $33.63 per barrel, or $5.80 per MMBtu.
Spot prices at most locations outside the frigid
Northeast fell for the first three trading days of the week (Thursday, January
23-Monday, January 26), despite deepening cold in most gas consuming areas east
of the
On the NYMEX, futures prices declined for the
week. Futures prices fell sharply on
Thursday, apparently in reaction to the unexpectedly low implied storage
withdrawal of 156 Bcf, and fell sharply again on
Monday, despite a National Weather Service short-term forecast for
colder-than-normal temperatures for most of the nation east of the
Estimated Average Wellhead Prices |
||||||
|
Jul-03 |
Aug-03 |
Sep-03 |
Oct-03 |
Nov-03 |
Dec-03 |
Price ($ per Mcf) |
4.91 |
4.72 |
4.58 |
4.43 |
4.34 |
5.08 |
Price ($ per MMBtu) |
4.79 |
4.60 |
4.46 |
4.32 |
4.23 |
4.95 |
Note: The
price data in this table are a pre-release of the average wellhead price that
will be published in forthcoming issues of the Natural Gas Monthly. Prices were converted from $ per Mcf to $ per MMBtu using an
average heat content of 1,025 Btu per cubic foot as published in Table A2 of
the Annual Energy
Review 2001. |
||||||
Source: Energy
Information Administration, Office of Oil and Gas. |
Working
gas inventories stood at 2,063 Bcf as of Friday,
January 23, according to the EIA's Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report. (See Storage Figure) This is
163 Bcf, or 8.6 percent, larger than the previous
5-year (1999-2003) average of 1,900 Bcf for this week
of the year. Further, this level is 334 Bcf (over 19 percent) more than stocks at this point last
year. The implied net withdrawal of 195 Bcf is 18.5
percent more than the 5-year average of 165 Bcf. Temperatures were generally colder than
normal for the eastern half of the nation during the week covered by this
storage report, and much colder than normal around the
Other
Market Trends:
EIA
Issues Federal Register Notice Withdrawing
Proposal for New LNG Survey: In a Federal Register
notice dated Friday, January 23, the Energy Information Administration
announced that it is withdrawing its proposal for new survey Form EIA-913,
"Monthly and Annual Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Storage Reports." On
Summary:
Spot prices rose sharply in the Northeast, and more
moderately in the