Natural-gas futures jumped sharply Wednesday morning, bouncing after ending the earlier session on the lowest in additional than three and a half years after Chesapeake Energy, a significant shale producer, minimize its manufacturing outlook.
Meanwhile, oil futures ticked barely larger in rangebound buying and selling as buyers monitored developments within the Middle East and weighed the outlook for international crude demand.
Price strikes
-
West Texas Intermediate crude for April supply
CL00,
+0.53% CL.1,
+0.53% CLJ24,
+0.53%
rose 8 cents, or 0.1%, to $77.12 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. -
April Brent crude
BRN00,
+0.36% BRNJ24,
+0.36% ,
the worldwide benchmark, was up 10 cents, or 0.1%, to $82.44 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. -
Back on Nymex, March gasoline
RBH24,
+0.63%
rose 0.3% to $2.284 a gallon, whereas March heating oil
HOH24,
-0.56%
fell 0.9% to $2.706 a gallon. -
March pure fuel
NGH24,
+11.10%
jumped 10% to $1.733 per million British thermal items, bouncing after ending Tuesday on the lowest settlement for a front-month contract since June 26, 2020.
Market drivers
In its fourth-quarter earnings report, Chesapeake
CHK,
mentioned its capital plan would help manufacturing this 12 months within the vary of two.65 billion to 2.75 billion cubic toes a day, or bcf/d. Chesapeake produced the equal of three.43 bcf/d in fiscal 2023, 98% of which was pure fuel.
Chesapeake’s plans helped spark a bounce for natural-gas futures, in accordance with a be aware from Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey, strategists at ING.
Natural-gas costs stay down 17% in February alone and have dropped greater than 25% thus far this 12 months, regardless of the Wednesday bounce. Natural fuel has suffered “on the back of burgeoning domestic natural gas production, above-average storage levels and a warmer-than-normal weather forecast through to the end of February,” Lu Ming Pang, senior analyst at Rystad Energy, mentioned in a be aware.
See: Natural-gas costs at lowest since 2020 on gentle climate, ample provide ‘double whammy’
Analysts mentioned continued assaults on delivery within the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab strait by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants remained a priority. Traders have been additionally monitoring efforts towards a cease-fire within the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The U.S. vetoed an Arab-backed U.N. decision Tuesday demanding a right away humanitarian cease-fire within the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. The Biden administration had mentioned it could veto the decision due to considerations that it could intervene with efforts to rearrange a deal between the fighters geared toward bringing no less than a six-week halt to hostilities and a launch of all hostages.
Oil costs traded close to the highest of a three-week vary final week on rising geopolitical worries, however beneficial properties have been capped after the International Energy Agency left its outlook for demand progress in 2024 unchanged, mentioned Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital.
“Barring any major geopolitical uprise in the war between Israel and Gaza, we remain neutral on oil prices that we see remaining stuck between the $72-$78 range,” he mentioned.
Associated Press contributed.
Source web site: www.marketwatch.com
