Energy Sector Investing

Natural Gas Falls Below $4

Natural gas prices fell below $4 on Thursday following an EIA inventory report indicating that storage of natural gas increased by 11BCf from the previous week.  The Energy Information Administration report states that natural gas storage levels are currently eight percent higher than the five year average.  Natural gas in U.S. storage currently stands at 1.63 trillion cubic feet.

In trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange natural gas for April delivery was off four percent to $3.946.  During the trading session natural gas futures hit a record low for the April contract at $3.940 per thousand cubic feet.

Other NYMEX energy sector contracts:

Light, sweet crude oil for May delivery was down eight cents to $80.53 a barrel.

April heating oil down less than once cent to $2.0665 a gallon.

Gasoline declined 0.57 cent to settle at $2.2155 a gallon for the April contract.

Natural Gas Inventories Decline 111 Bcf

The EIA reports that U.S. natural gas inventories declined by 111 Bcf last week. 

Natural gas stocks were 71 Bcf less than last year at this time and 19 Bcf above the 5-year average of 1,607 Bcf.

Consensus estimates were for a draw of 111 bcf.

Natural gas is currently trading lower 1.6% to $4.486 per MMBtu.

Natural Gas Inventories Post Decline

The U.S. Energy Information Administration released it's natural gas inventory data for the week ending January 8 and inventories are showing a greater than expected decline.

U.S. natural gas inventories declined 266 Bcf from the previous week.  Analysts had forecast a draw of 253-258 billion cubic feet.

The current natural gas inventory is 4.4% above the five-year average of about 2.73 TCF and 3.7% above 2009's storage level of roughly 2.75 TCF.