Natural gas prices shoot up as weather forecasts heat up
Published Aug 14, 2013 12:10PM ET
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in September traded at USD3.373 per million British thermal units during U.S. afternoon trading, up 2.68%.
The September contract settled down 0.76% at USD3.285 per million British thermal units on Tuesday.
Weather forecasts predicted above-normal temperatures to settle in over the Northeast and Midwest U.S. over the coming days.
Demand for natural gas tends to rise amid heat waves, as homes and businesses throttle up their air conditioners.
The warming trend could run into the last week of August, according to some reports.
Elsewhere, talk that a tropical storm could form in the Gulf of Mexico in the coming days pushed prices higher was well, as such weather systems often disrupt production by prompting gas rig operators to evacuate offshore facilities.
Meanwhile, U.S. supply levels also remained in focus. Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.941 trillion cubic feet as of last week, 0.7% above the five-year average and rising to a surplus for the first time since March.
Early injection estimates for Thursday’s storage data range from 62 billion cubic feet to 77 billion cubic feet, compared to a 20 billion cubic feet increase during the same week a year earlier.
The five-year average for the week is a build of 42 billion cubic feet.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in September were down 0.77% and trading at USD106.01 a barrel, while heating oil for September delivery were down 0.33% and trading at USD3.0370 per gallon.
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Written By: Investing.com
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