US Weekly Natural Gas Prices Decline on Bearish Storage Build, Milder Weather Outlook

US natural gas prices ended the week lower amid higher-than-expected gas injections into storage, despite above-normal temperatures and record power burn. In the futures market, the Nymex front-month August contract fell to $2.95 per million British thermal unit, down from $3.22/MMBtu on July 3. Natural gas spot prices dropped by $0.02/MMBtu to $3.31/MMBtu during the week ended July 8, from $3.33/MMBtu the prior week, according to the US Energy Information Administration's Weekly Gas Storage Supplement, released Thursday. Prices were mixed across most major regional hubs, ranging from a decrease of $1.83/MMBtu at Algonquin Citygate to an increase of $1.48/MMBtu at SoCal Border-Ehrenberg. The Southwest saw the lowest prices in the country, despite seeing weekly increases, and even with Waha prices climbing to the highest sustained daily averages since the Winter Storm Fern earlier this year. US LNG feedgas flows retreated during the week, with averages dropping below 19 billion cubic feet, while still being above the 30-day moving average of 18.87 Bcf, according to the Bloomberg LNG Feedgas Model. The net injection into storage for the week ended July 03 was 61 Bcf, down.