Record Natural Gas Futures on NYMEX Brrrrrrrr!!!

November (front month end since closing October contracts Wednesday with intraday high of $14.60) natural gas struck a new record 15 cents to $14.25 per million British Thermal Units (BTU). The production situation for natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of the hurricanes worsened a bit Wednesday.

Over 80% of Gulf daily natural-gas production was offline, compared to 78.6% on Tuesday, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said.

Energy Department update on stockpiles of natural gas in storage, is due out later today Thursday 10.00 am EST).

Other oil product were slightly lower in electronic trade with October unleaded gasoline futures down 0.4% at $2.33 a gallon and heating oil futures down 0.1% at $2.1385 a gallon.

It is going to be either a cold or expensive winter in the Northern States this winter – this will of course impact very heavily on Heating / Energy Assistance Programs for affected states. Very often these are not provided on an entitlement basis but “first come first served” until funds are depleted. The program usually runs through the months November until May.

Recent blogs on same topic here