LONDON (Commodity Online): Gas prices rallied on the day, despite a within-consensus storage withdrawal number. The EIA storage report churned out a 132 Bcf storage withdrawal for the week in reference, only 4 Bcf higher than the consensus of 128 Bcf.
The East took out 100 Bcf, while the West withdrew 10 Bcf. The Producing Region subtracted 22 Bcf from storage.
Working gas storage is now at 2966 Bcf, far above the storage level at the same time last year and the five-year average.
More bearish signs are emanating from the weather forecast, which has shown even more incremental warmth for the 6-15 day period.
Punxsutawney Phil's credibility is thus called into question, as his shadow has predicted six more weeks of winter. After all, winter seems like it has never arrived at all.
The prompt contract surged 17 cents, to $2.55/MMBtu, while the balance of calendar 2012 and calendar 2013 pushed up 18 cents and 17 cents, to $2.97 and $3.67, respectively.
Cash prices were mixed on the day, with Henry Hub up two cents, to $2.30. SoCal Border and Transco-Z6 (NY) both finished flat on the day.
