The US saw its first storage build of the year last week — the latest start to the summer refill since 2000 — which could be significant if history repeats itself. The late start in 2000 seemed to trigger a long bull rally that imploded in 2008 when prices hit almost $15 per million Btu. While analyst Stephen Schork says the big difference then was the assumption North America was running out of gas, the May gas contract hit a new 21-month high of just over $4.40/MMBtu — $2.50 above prices this time last year — after the US Energy Information Administration reported a 31 billion cubic foot build for the week ended Apr. 12, raising working gas inventories to 1.704 trillion cubic feet (48 billion cubic meters). The build was not only late, it was unseasonably light and increased the five-year deficit by 8 Bcf to 74 Bcf.
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