RE: Energy battle between Europe and Russia not over24 Feb 2023 12:58
US natural gas futures rose to above $2.4/MMBtu on Friday and were set for a 5% weekly gain, on expectations that demand for heating will increase due to colder temperatures. Also, the latest EIA report showed US utilities pulled 71 bcf of gas from storage last week, slightly more than market expectations of a 67 bcf drop. Nevertheless, the US benchmark is down more than 45% since the beginning of the year and is over 80% below the August peak of $10, as warmer winter kept heating demand subdued and stockpiles well above average. Stockpiles were at 2.195 trillion cubic feet (tcf) as of February 17th, 395 bcf higher than last year at this time and 289 bcf above the five-year average of 1.906 tcf. Elsewhere, natural gas traders doubt that the Freeport LNG export plant in Texas would operate at full power until mid-March or later, allowing utilities to leave more gas in storage.
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