BUY NGRecently, the price of natural gas has been under pressure due to measures to reduce consumption and prices in Europe ahead of winter. Officials expect another supply crunch due to restricted access to Russian pipelines and a possible jump in demand for heating goods. Today, the price of natural gas NATGAS / USD is stable between the level of $5.81 and the level of $6.03 per million British thermal units. On another note. An inventory report from the US Department of Energy can determine if the floor can hold or not. Analysts expect a smaller increase in inventories of 103 billion cubic feet compared to the previous increase of 125 billion cubic feet, indicating an increase in purchases.
LNG exports to other countries and storage activity leading to colder months may be responsible for the slowdown in the increase in storage. However, a larger-than-expected increase could mean more downside for natural gas as this may indicate that demand remains weak.
On the gas crisis front following the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war:
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned that a proposal to cap gas prices at the EU level could backfire as the region seeks to offset significant supply cuts from Russia. “Price capping always involves the risk that producers will sell their gas elsewhere – and we Europeans will end up having less gas instead of more,” Schulz said Thursday in a speech to the German parliament in Berlin.
The German chancellor was speaking ahead of a two-day summit of European Union leaders in Brussels. The bloc's member states will discuss ways to keep energy prices under control and ensure security of supplies, as well as the recent situation in Russia's war in Ukraine. Rather than setting a price cap, Schulze supported the idea of cooperating closely with buyers such as Japan and South Korea to avoid competition for limited supplies, while also attracting like-minded producers. "I am convinced that countries like the United States, Canada or Norway, who stand with us in solidarity with Ukraine, have an interest that energy in Europe will not become too expensive," he said.
According to gas technical analysis: Natural gas price NATGAS/USD has retreated to the main area of interest shown on the longer-term time frames, and a break below could pave the way for a move to the next major support area at $3,635. Technical indicators favor a bounce, as the 100 SMA is above the 200 SMA to reflect bullish pressure. However, the gap between the indicators is narrowing to hint at a possible bearish crossover soon. The commodity is also trading below its two moving averages as an early indication of selling momentum.
If that materializes, the price of natural gas could drop below $5,585 and make its way to the next main floor. The stochastic has been indicating oversold conditions for some time, which means that sellers can use a breakout period and let the buyers take control. Similarly, the RSI is in the oversold territory to indicate exhaustion among the bears. A turn higher means that bullish momentum could pick up and take the commodity back to the next upside barrier around $8,000.
