$CHK Natural gas futures surged 6% to settle at $3.084/MMBtu, the highest finish for a most-active contract since November, as U.S. gas supplies tumbled by a record 359B cf last week, beating the analyst consensus estimate for a decrease of 337B cf.
The result was more than double the five-year average withdrawal of 169B cf for the week and far ahead of the previous record fall of 288B in January 2014 during the Polar Vortex.
The data suggest “the risk of an undersupplied gas market is really coming into focus - that new cold waves could really wipe out more inventory before we get to early March 2018,” says Seaport Global's Richard Hastings.
Gas producers are broadly higher, along with oil names: CHK +4.6%, RRC +2.9%, ECR +2.8%, AR +2.4%, GPOR +2.4%, SWN +2%, COG +1.6%, EQT +1.2%.
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