First Look - AEGIS Markets reported its highest-ever number of natural gas trades yesterday, as clients capitalized on the recent rise in the forward curve

• Oil is trading higher, extending gains from yesterday
• • Speculators increased their long positions in WTI to a four-month high while cutting positions in Brent to the lowest level since November
  • WTI open interest is at the highest level since mid-2023
• Oil posts modest 2024 decline (BBG)
  • Brent is heading for a second yearly decline, with WTI little changed on the year
  • While geopolitical uncertainty and continued supply cuts from OPEC supported prices, weak demand in China and a surging US dollar counteracted this bullishness
  • Oil spent the last few months of the year in a tight trading range between $68 and $72/Bbl as traders look toward what could be a weaker market in 2025
  • Concerns about 2025 revolve around OPEC's plan to return supply to the market, which could lead to a large supply-demand surplus

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AEGIS Markets reported its highest-ever number of natural gas trades yesterday, as clients capitalized on the recent rise in the forward curve

• Natural gas pared some of yesterday’s impressive gains in Tuesday AM trading
  • The February contract was down 22c to $3.71 as of 8:14 a.m. CT
  • Yesterday, the prompt contract soared 55c to settle at $3.936, but not before intraday trading briefly took the Feb contract to $4.20
  • Trading volume yesterday was the highest since August 2020 for the prompt contract, according to Bloomberg data from the CME
  • The rally on Monday was a response to a cold-looking January that could draw down massive amounts of gas inventories
    • The anticipation of freeze-offs would contribute to the large January pull on storage
• First LNG at Cheniere’s Corpus Christi Stage 3 Project
  • Cheniere Energy announced the production of LNG from the first train of its Corpus Christi Stage 3 Liquefaction Project, with substantial completion expected by the first quarter of 2025
  • Overall project completion was 75.9% as of Nov. 30
  • The project consists of seven midscale trains, projected to produce over 10 mtpa of LNG
  • Cheniere is the largest U.S. LNG exporter second largest global producer