In the latest episode of NGI’s Hub & Flow, NGI Senior Markets Editor Kevin Dobbs interviews Thomas Saal, senior vice president of energy at StoneX Financial.

Saal digs into supplies in storage, record production, speculators' impact, moderate winter weather-driven demand so far and LNG export activity – the myriad pieces that make up the winter supply/demand puzzle and how they may impact prices through the heating season and beyond.

Saal and Dobbs spoke shortly after the latest Energy Information (EIA) storage report was released on Thursday. EIA printed a 117 Bcf withdrawal for the week ended Dec. 1. It marked the second consecutive triple-digit pull of the season. Yet inventories remained nearly 7% above the five-year average for this time of year.

Record production in November that topped 106 Bcf/d, combined with mostly benign weather through the fall, accounted for much of the difference. But the overall natural gas picture is more complicated than that. Dobbs and Sall delve into more detail.