Last Week in Natural Gas
The record heat dome did the heavy lifting last week. Triple-digit heat indices blanketed the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Northeast into the July Fourth weekend, forcing Amtrak to slow trains through the Northeast Corridor and SEPTA to cancel regional rail as cooling demand surged. Yet the tape stayed capped. Thursday’s EIA release printed a +87 Bcf build for the week ending June 26, lifting inventories to 2,922 Bcf — roughly 175 Bcf above the five-year average and 23 Bcf under last year. That loose print, stacked on resilient production near record highs, blunted the heat premium. The front month closed Friday near $3.24, down on the week even with burn running hot, and the August contract held its backwardation over September as the curve priced peak-summer heat and faded the shoulder. Soft global gas kept export-netback pull in check. It was a textbook bullish-but-capped setup: the storage cushion and a fresh rig ramp put a lid on every push higher, and buyers had to work the heat-driven pullbacks rather than chase.
The Week Ahead
Focus shifts to Thursday’s EIA release covering the week ending July 3 — the heart of the heat dome. With cooling burn running well above the summer baseline through the reference week, the build should print below the five-year norm, and any surprise tightening would validate the peak-cooling thesis the August contract is already carrying. Weather models are the swing factor: whether the ridge rebuilds after the holiday or the pattern breaks toward cooler mid-July risk decides the near curve over the next two weeks. Production stays the ceiling — rigs and frac spreads posted their biggest jump since September 2024, signaling more supply into the back half of summer. On the export side, feedgas keeps climbing as Golden Pass ramps its commissioning trains, with total capacity building toward roughly 19 Bcf/d by year-end — a structural pull that firms as the season wears on. Trade the heat-driven dips, but respect the injection cushion sitting well above the five-year average and the soft global backdrop capping the topside.
In Plain English
Natural gas prices held roughly steady last week even as a record-breaking heat wave baked much of the eastern United States over the July Fourth weekend, pushing up demand for air conditioning and straining power grids. Prices stayed in check because storage tanks are fuller than usual for this time of year and producers are pumping near record volumes, keeping supply comfortable. The bigger story sits further out: forecasters expect a strong El Niño — a Pacific Ocean warming pattern — to bring a milder-than-normal winter, which would soften heating demand later this year. Rising shipments of gas overseas are the main force pushing prices the other way.