DJ Natural Gas Steady on Moderate Weather Outlook
By Nicole Friedman
NEW YORK--Natural-gas prices traded near flat Monday on expectations that robust production would continue to
outweigh demand for the heating fuel.
Futures for May delivery recently rose 0.4 cent, or 0.2%, to $2.643 a million British thermal units on the New York
Mercantile Exchange.
U.S. natural-gas inventories grew in the week ended March 20 due to ample production. Stockpiles of the fuel
typically deplete between October and April as frigid weather leads to higher consumption of natural gas. The recent
increase was the first of the year and came a week or two earlier than expected.
Natural-gas consumption is expected to stay moderate in the coming weeks as temperatures become more spring-like.
Temperatures in the Midwest, East and South are forecast to warm up in the next 11 to 15 days, though some
below-normal temperatures are still expected on the East Coast, according to Commodity Weather Group LLC.
Forecasts released Monday suggested lower demand for natural gas in the next two weeks compared with the forecasts
released Friday, according to the company.
"The short-term weather forecasts remain colder-than-normal, but not cold enough to have a significant impact on the
overall supply balances," said Dominick Chirichella, analyst at the Energy Management Institute, in a note Monday. "The
cold spell engulfing the East Coast has ended and spring is in the air."
In the market for physical natural gas, prices for next-day delivery of gas at the benchmark Henry Hub in Louisiana
last traded at $2.5975/mmBtu, compared with Friday's average of $2.6323. At the Transco Z6 hub in New York, physical
gas traded in a bid-offer range of $2.40-$2.70, compared to Friday's average of $2.6616.
Write to Nicole Friedman at nicole.friedman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 30, 2015 09:21 ET (13:21 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
033015 13:21 -- GMT
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