The Platts pre-report analyst survey suggests U.S. EIA data will show an 89 to 94 Bcf addition to natural gas stocks for the latest reporting week Washington - May 6, 2009 The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday is expected to report an addition of between 89 and 94 billion cubic feet (Bcf) to natural gas storage inventories for the week that ended Friday, May 1, according to a Platts survey of analysts. A build within expectations would be larger than last year's injection and the five-year-average build, both at 68 Bcf. As a result, the 464-Bcf surplus over last year and 355-Bcf surplus over the five-year average are expected to grow. An injection above average or above expectations could push natural gas prices lower because it indicates that the market may be oversupplied with gas. Outside the consensus, the broader range of analyst expectations for the latest reporting period spanned from injections of 73 Bcf to 109 Bcf. FirstEnergy Capital analyst Martin King said the weather last week was "warm, but not hot" across much of the U.S., which kept demand relatively soft. He also cited a financial incentive to inject gas into storage now: front-month New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) gas futures prices are about $2 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) below futures prices for next winter, when much of the gas would be pulled from storage and sold.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday is expected to report an addition of between 89 and 94 billion cubic feet (Bcf) to natural gas storage inventories for the week that ended Friday, May 1, according to a Platts survey of analysts.
A build within expectations would be larger than last year's injection and the five-year-average build, both at 68 Bcf. As a result, the 464-Bcf surplus over last year and 355-Bcf surplus over the five-year average are expected to grow.
An injection above average or above expectations could push natural gas prices lower because it indicates that the market may be oversupplied with gas.
Outside the consensus, the broader range of analyst expectations for the latest reporting period spanned from injections of 73 Bcf to 109 Bcf.
FirstEnergy Capital analyst Martin King said the weather last week was "warm, but not hot" across much of the U.S., which kept demand relatively soft. He also cited a financial incentive to inject gas into storage now: front-month New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) gas futures prices are about $2 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) below futures prices for next winter, when much of the gas would be pulled from storage and sold.