Even though the extreme heat seen over the last 1-2 weeks will subside, the pattern is still generally warm and cooling demand will remain strong.  Last Thursday’s EIA release showed natural gas stocks (Bcf) -3.1% vs. same time last year, while the weekly build (+28 Bcf) was smaller than most market analyst expectations.  The previous week’s tropical activity (Bonnie) did curtail gas & oil production, but not significantly. 

 

A system in the Atlantic is expected to strengthen into a tropical storm this week, as of this morning, the National Hurricane Center has placed tropical cyclone formation at a 90% probability within the next 48 hours.  In addition to this system, we are also keeping an eye on a series of tropical waves off which have formed off of the West African coast – these could be the trigger a series of events which could move the market over the next 1-2 weeks.