Spot natural gas prices (CFDS ON NATURAL GAS) declined in their recent trading at the intraday levels, to record daily losses until the moment of writing this report, by -2.46%. It settled at the price of $8.017 per million British thermal units, after declining in yesterdays trading by -0.58%.
Natural gas futures traded in a narrow range of gains and losses during most of the trading on Wednesday, but the spot month contract finally rose for the third day in a row as demand appeared to outpace supply.
Nymex June gas futures settled at $8,368 per million British thermal units, up 6.4 cents on the day. While the July contract rose 6.1 cents to $8.455.
Production in the United States fell on the third day to about 93.7 billion cubic feet, according to Bloomberg estimates. Production is down 1% per day and has settled well below 97 billion cubic feet in recent months. Pipeline maintenance has proven to be a constant drag on production when demand is strong.
US LNG volumes on Wednesday were comfortably above 12 billion cubic feet for a third consecutive day amid strong demand, according to NGI estimates. Europe has stepped up calls for US exports of cryogenic fuels to replace Russian supplies. Countries across the continent are demanding US LNG as part of ongoing efforts to significantly reduce dependence on Russian gas before next winter.
Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a speech this week: “Russia's war and its recent decision to cut gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, and to similarly threaten other countries, show that it is not a reliable partner.” “The United States is committed to working with Europe … to meet its energy needs, while also breaking dependence on Russian energy, and this includes working with other partners to increase the volume of LNG exports to Europe,” Yellen added.
Technically, the price is trying in its recent trading to take a truce to take a breath and reap the profits of its recent gains, amid complete control of the main bullish trend in the medium and short term along a slope line, as shown in the attached chart for a (daily) period, supported by its continuous trading above its 50-day simple moving average. In addition, we notice the influx of positive signals on the RSI indicators.
Therefore, we expect natural gas to rise during its upcoming trading, provided that it first breaches the current resistance 8.054, after which it will target the pivotal resistance level 8.870.