Natural gas futures - Weekly outlook: July 15 - 19
Investing.com
Published Jul 14, 2013 10:35AM ET
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in August rose 0.8% on Friday to settle the week at USD3.641 per million British thermal units.
On the week, natural gas prices rose 0.7%, the second consecutive weekly advance.
Weather forecasting models pointed to hot summer temperatures across the U.S. Northeast and Midwest in the next five days, boosting near-term demand expectations for the fuel.
Industry weather group Commodity Weather Group said Friday that current patterns forming across the North Central and Northeastern U.S. will lay the groundwork for "possibly the hottest week of the summer" next week.
Forecasts originally called for mild temperatures during the period.
The U.S. Northeast is a key gas-consuming region. Above-average summer temperatures increase the need for gas-fired electricity to cool homes.
Futures fell 1.2% on Thursday after the Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 82 billion cubic feet last week, broadly in line with market expectations.
Inventories rose by 34 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change for the week is a rise of 74 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.687 trillion cubic feet as of last week, just 0.8% below the five-year average and 14% below last year's level.
Early injection estimates for this week’s storage data range from 50 billion cubic feet to 70 billion cubic feet, compared to a 29 billion cubic feet increase during the same week a year earlier.
The five-year average for the week is a build of 70 billion cubic feet.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, light sweet crude oil futures for August delivery settled at USD105.95 a barrel by close of trade on Friday, adding 2.3% on the week.
Meanwhile, heating oil for August delivery tacked on 1.3% over the week to settle at USD3.033 per gallon by close of trade Friday.
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Written By: Investing.com
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