DJ Natural Gas Gains on Weather Expectations
By Nicole Friedman
NEW YORK--Natural gas prices rose Thursday on expectations of hotter temperatures in the next two weeks.
But weekly inventory data due at 10:30 a.m. EDT is expected to show that stockpiles grew last week by more than is
typical for this time of year.
Futures for October delivery recently rose 1.6 cents, or 0.6%, to $2.667 a million British thermal units on the New
York Mercantile Exchange.
Hot weather boosts demand for natural gas as a power-generation fuel, because consumers use more electricity in the
heat to run air conditioners. Weather forecasts for the next two weeks are slightly warmer than previously expected,
said Commodity Weather Group LLC.
Despite hot weather, robust production has pushed the natural gas market into a surplus this summer.
Analysts and traders expect the U.S. Energy Information Administration to report later Thursday that natural gas
inventories rose by 75 billion cubic feet last week, more than the 63-bcf five-year average addition for that week.
If the storage estimate is correct, inventories as of Sept. 4 totaled 3.3 trillion cubic feet, 17% above levels from
a year ago and 4.3% above the five-year average for the same week.
Physical gas for next-day delivery at the Henry Hub in Louisiana last traded at $2.69/mmBtu, compared with
Wednesday's range of $2.70-$2.75. Cash prices at the Transco Z6 hub in New York last traded between $2.40 and
$2.50/mmBtu, compared with Wednesday's range of $2.45-$2.775.
Write to Nicole Friedman at nicole.friedman@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 10, 2015 10:14 ET (14:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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