Updated Aug 30, 2024
8/30/24
Natural gas futures floundered for a third consecutive session on Wednesday, dragged lower by weaker demand, rebounding production and expectations for robust storage injections. The June Nymex gas futures contract settled at $2.170/MMBtu on Wednesday, down 4.4 cents day/day. July declined 5.7 cents to $2.360.
The April Nymex natural gas futures contract floundered on its final day as the front month – a third consecutive loss – as the intersection of robust production and waning demand again captured traders’ attention.
Natural gas futures faltered midweek, erasing the prior two days’ gains as traders looked ahead to growing storage surpluses later this month amid ongoing warmth across most of the country. The March Nymex gas futures contract settled Wednesday at $2.396/MMBtu, down 18.0 cents on the day. April futures slid 18.7 cents to $2.477.
Natural gas futures floundered back into freefall Wednesday – the case of a majority of trading sessions early in the new year – as production climbed, benign weather persisted and the market braced for an anemic storage withdrawal.
Natural gas futures eked out a gain Wednesday amid worries that a fierce and widespread winter freeze could force production interruptions, ending a three-day run of steep losses. The January Nymex gas futures contract settled at $5.332/MMBtu, up six-tenths of a cent day/day. February rose 2.2 cents to $5.238.
Natural gas futures continued to trade mostly sideways midweek, with no huge deviations in the supply/demand balance to decisively move prices one way or the other. Instead, expectations for another massive storage injection sent the November Nymex contract down 16.1 cents day/day to $6.435/MMBtu. December futures slipped 16.2 cents to $6.766.