Speculators boost US natural gas net long for first time in five weeks

US natural gas speculators boosted their net long positions for the first time in five weeks, betting prices will rise as exports increase and inventories remain well below normal for this time of year. Speculators in four major New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) markets added to their bullish bets by 24,673 contracts to 211,680 in the week to March 6, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Friday.
That compares with a five-year (2013-2017) average speculative net long position of 161,450. The biggest net long position was 456,475 in April 2013, while the biggest net short position was 166,165 in November 2015, according to Reuters data. Gas futures on the NYMEX averaged $2.70 per million British thermal units during the five trading days ended March 6 versus $2.65 during the five trading days ended February 27.
US gas inventories were about 16 percent below the five-year average during the week ended March 2 after utilities pulled immense amounts of fuel out of storage to heat homes and businesses during several bitter cold weeks around the start of the year.
Pipeline and liquefied natural gas exports, meanwhile, are expected to rise from an annual average of 8.7 bcfd in 2017 to 10.5 bcfd in 2018 and 12.9 bcfd in 2019, according to federal energy projections in March. The United States transitioned from a net importer of gas into a net exporter of the fuel on an annual basis in 2017. The United States was last a net exporter of gas on an annual basis in 1957.