The EIA reported a net gas storage Withdraw of -359 Bcf for the week ending January 5th 2018. This was quite a bit larger than the market consensus of -333 Bcf. The withdraw is significant because it’s the largest withdraw ever recorded by the EIA, exceeding the prior record of -288 Bcf that took place during the Polar Vortex on Jan 10, 2014. This record -breaking withdraw was driven by the cold spell across the country during the first week of January that also curtailed production. The market is responding to the record breaking withdraw and is trading 12 cents higher at $3.02/MMBtu. The 12-month strip price is up a couple of pennies at $2.86/ MMBtu.
Natural gas inventories stand at 2,767 Bcf, which is below last year’s inventory level of 3,182 Bcf and below the five-year average of 3,149 Bcf.
