The Platts pre-report analyst survey suggests U.S. EIA data will show a 41 to 46 Bcf addition to natural gas stocks for the latest reporting week Washington - April 22, 2009 The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday is expected to report an addition of between 41 and 46 billion cubic feet (Bcf) to natural gas storage inventories for the week that ended Friday, April 17, according to a Platts survey of analysts. A build within expectations would be larger than last year's 25-Bcf injection and the five-year-average build of 35 Bcf, according to EIA. As a result, the year-on-year surplus of 438 Bcf and the 311-Bcf surplus over the five-year average each should expand. 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 23 Bcf to 60 Bcf. FirstEnergy Capital analyst Martin King said that although weather in parts of the U.S. was cool last week, it was still warmer than the prior week, when EIA reported a 21-Bcf build. "We expect that storage operators were busy packing away molecules last week," he said. Citi Futures Perspective analyst Tim Evans said the expanding storage surplus is one of several factors that has kept gas prices "bobbing along near their recent six-year lows."
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday is expected to report an addition of between 41 and 46 billion cubic feet (Bcf) to natural gas storage inventories for the week that ended Friday, April 17, according to a Platts survey of analysts.
A build within expectations would be larger than last year's 25-Bcf injection and the five-year-average build of 35 Bcf, according to EIA. As a result, the year-on-year surplus of 438 Bcf and the 311-Bcf surplus over the five-year average each should expand.
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 23 Bcf to 60 Bcf.
FirstEnergy Capital analyst Martin King said that although weather in parts of the U.S. was cool last week, it was still warmer than the prior week, when EIA reported a 21-Bcf build. "We expect that storage operators were busy packing away molecules last week," he said.
Citi Futures Perspective analyst Tim Evans said the expanding storage surplus is one of several factors that has kept gas prices "bobbing along near their recent six-year lows."