Market Factors
Natural Gas Storage
Storage History Graph |
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In the gas industry, there is an injection season April 1st to October 31st) and a withdrawal season (November 1st to March 31st). During the injection season, natural gas is brought into market areas by pipelines and injected into storage fields (old natural gas wells or salt caverns) where the gas is held until withdrawal season. During withdrawal season the natural gas is withdrawn from storage fields and consumed by industrial, commercial, and residential customers. The amount of gas injected or withdrawn is the net difference between the gas produced or imported and the volume of gas consumed.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) measures the size of the injection or the withdrawal on a weekly basis, and releases a natural gas storage report every Thursday at 10:30am.
The natural gas futures market will have both short- and long-term reactions to the storage report. Therefore, it’s a good resource for buyers to watch.
For more information about storage, you can read the Weekly EIA Natural Gas Storage Report.
If you have further questions about how to use any of our reports as tools for buying gas, please contact your IGS Energy representative at (877) 923-4447 or click here to find your IGS Energy representative.
Rig Count
Rig Count History Graph |
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What is Rig Count and why does it matter? Every week, Baker Hughes, a top-tier oil field service company, counts the number of active rigs in North America that are drilling for natural gas.
In general, the higher the rig count, the more natural gas that will be available for production and transport on the pipelines into storage and to market areas across the country. Conversely, the lower the rig count, the less natural gas being produced, and the lower the volume of natural gas available for transport.
Traditionally, a high rig count usually leads to lower natural gas prices, while a low rig count leads to higher natural gas prices. Today, considerations surrounding rig count data are more complex, since the newer, more efficient rigs being brought on-line are more productive than older rigs.
For more information about the rig count measure, visit Baker Hughes.
If you have further questions about how to use any of our reports as tools for buying gas, please contact your IGS Energy representative at (877) 923-4447 or click here to find your IGS Energy representative.
Weather
Forecasted weather can have a great impact on the fundamental trading of natural gas. When there is a significant change in weather forecast or a variance to normal weather patterns, there can be a material impact on the futures price of natural gas.
Energy traders pay a lot of attention to weather forecasts. The weather can have a huge impact on both storage withdrawals and storage injections in ways you might not have considered. For example, when temperatures in the summer rise, natural gas is diverted from storage injections to gas-fired power generators. This may create a bullish scenario in the energy community due to the uncertainty of refilling storage before the end of the storage injection season.
Hurricane Information
Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico can threaten, slow down, or halt gas production. For complete and up-to-the-minute hurricane information, visit the Weather Underground.
If you have further questions about how to use any of our reports as tools for buying gas, please contact your IGS Energy representative at (877) 923-4447 or click here to find your IGS Energy representative.