Natural Gas Declines on Cooler Weather Forecast

Natural gas prices declined by approximately 1% on Monday, as cooler than normal weather is expected to cover most of the east coast reducing cooling demand during the beginning of the summer season.  Support is seen near the 10-day moving average at 2.81, while resistance is seen near the 200-day moving average at 2.875.  The fast stochastic generated a crossover sell signal but has dipped out of overbought territory printing a reading of 71, below the overbought trigger level of 80.

Net injections top the 100 Bcf threshold in May for the first time since 2015. Net injections into storage totaled 106 Bcf for the week ending May 11, compared with the five-year  average net injection of 87 Bcf and last year’s net injections of 64 Bcf during the same week. This report week had the largest reported May weekly net injection since May 29, 2015, when net injection reached its record high of 132 Bcf. Net injections during the week averaged 15.1 Bcf/day; net injections will have to average 13.1 Bcf/day for the remainder of the refill season to match the five-year average level (3,806 Bcf) by October 31. Working gas stocks totaled 1,538 Bcf, which is 501 Bcf lower than the five-year average and 821 Bcf lower than last year at this time.

Temperatures are in the normal range for the storage week. Temperatures in the Lower 48 states averaged 64 °F, 4°F higher than normal and 6°F higher than last year at this time. Tempertures were 6°F warmer on average than the previous report week.

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said we made meaningful progress

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said we made meaningful progress in the latest U.S.-China trade talks and will increase U.S. exports to China significantly. He said that lowering of tariffs with China was discussed. Mnuchin said the U.S. was unified on the trade talks with China and Trump didn’t dictate any terms on the U.S. review of China’s ZTE, where some possible enforcement changes were being reviewed. He said both the U.S. and China have agreed to suspend tariffs and the U.S. could increase energy exports to them, though talks have to be turned into binding agreements with companies.