Natural erases gains stemming from pounding winter storm
Published Dec 21, 2012 01:55PM ET
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in January traded at USD3.449 per million British thermal units, down 0.39%.
A powerful storm continued to trek across much of the central and eastern United States on Friday though natural gas futures gave back earlier gains on sentiment temperatures won't stay cold enough to boost demand for a significant period of time.
Profit takers also wiped out gains stemming from falling supplies.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported earlier this week that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ended Dec. 14 fell by 82 billion cubic feet, outpacing expectations for a decline of 72 billion cubic feet.
Inventories fell by 100 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change for the week represented a decline of 144 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.724 trillion cubic feet as of last week.
Stocks were 66 billion cubic feet higher than during the same period a year ago and 345 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 3.379 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.
The report showed that in the East Region, stocks were 80 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, following net withdrawals of 49 billion cubic feet.
Stocks in the Producing Region were 183 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 1.078 billion cubic feet, after a net withdrawal of 24 billion cubic feet.
Meanwhile, blizzard conditions striking he Midwest were due to spread to the more heavily populated northeastern U.S., where temperatures were expected to remain cooler than normal for the next two weeks.
About half of U.S. households use gas for heating purposes, according to Energy Department data.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in January were down 1.65% and trading at USD88.64 a barrel, while heating oil for January delivery were down 1.08% and trading at USD3.0244 per gallon.
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Written By: Investing.com
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