NG Prices Rise After Storage Build Falls Short of Estimates

Natural gas futures prices rose to $2.919 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) on Thursday after a 44 billion cubic feet (Bcf) injection into storage for the week ended September 11, which was below industry estimates of a 50 Bcf injection and historical norms.

The storage surplus fell from 198 Bcf above the five-year average on August 7 to 148 Bcf as of Thursday. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that working natural gas inventories will total 3,969 Bcf on October 31, which would be 5% above the 2021-2025 average.

To reach this target, injections over the remaining 50 days are needed at a rate of 13.4 Bcf/d, or 94 Bcf per week. The recent pace of weekly injections has averaged 42 Bcf, which is less than half the required amount.