Natural Gas Reaction Mixed after Storage Data

On Thursday morning at 10:30, the U.S. Energy Information Administration released its weekly report on natural gas stockpiles. Natural gas stockpiles declined 76 Bcf; however, not as much as expected, where analysts' anticipated a draw-down of 78 Bcf. The commodity spiked higher initially, but has since slightly moved bounced lower. From the EIA report, "Working gas in storage was 3,472 Bcf as of Friday, December 30, 2011, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net decline of 76 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 356 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 458 Bcf above the 5-year average of 3,014 Bcf. In the East Region, stocks were 193 Bcf above the 5-year average following net withdrawals of 62 Bcf. Stocks in the Producing Region were 499 Bcf above the 5-year average of 696 Bcf after a net withdrawal of 10 Bcf. Stocks in the West Region were 39 Bcf above the 5-year average after a net drawdown of 4 Bcf. At 3,472 Bcf, total working gas is above the 5-year historical range." Natural Gas has been a very volatile commodity over the last number of years. The commodity that helps heat our homes has seen lows of under $2.00 and highs of over $15.00. However, within the last few years, natural gas has not traded above $10.00. The commodity has been in a downtrend ever since 2008. Currently, natural gas futures are down 2.23% on the session at $3.027.