Natural gas futures drop 2% with supply data in focus
Investing.com
Published Oct 24, 2012 11:32AM ET
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in November traded at USD3.462 per million British thermal units during U.S. morning trade, tumbling 2.1%.
It earlier fell by as much as 2.5% to trade at a session low of USD3.442 per million British thermal units. Front month prices hit a 2012 high of USD3.646 per million British thermal units on October 22.
Early injection estimates for Thursday’s storage data range from 52 billion cubic feet to 77 billion cubic feet, compared to last year's build of 95 billion cubic feet. The five-year average change for the week is an increase of 65 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. gas supplies stood at 3.776 trillion cubic feet as of last week, 5% above last year’s level and 7.1% above the five-year average for the week.
At the end of March, inventories were roughly 60% above the five-year average.
Concerns remain that U.S. inventories will end the injection-season on October 31 above the record high of 3.852 trillion cubic feet, set last year.
The EIA projected earlier in the month that natural gas stocks are expected to hit a fresh record high of 3.903 trillion cubic feet on October 31.
Meanwhile, market players continued to monitor weather forecasts over the next few weeks to gauge the strength of early-Autumn U.S. heating demand.
The U.S. National Weather Service's six- to 10-day outlook issued Tuesday called for below-normal temperatures for most of the eastern half of the country, with above-normal readings were forecast on the West Coast and in a small portion of New England.
Natural gas futures often reach a seasonal low in October, when mild weather reduces demand, before recovering in the winter, when heating-fuel use peaks.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in December sank 1.1% to trade at USD85.71 a barrel, while heating oil for November delivery dipped 0.15% to trade at USD3.039 per gallon.
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Written By: Investing.com
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