Dow Jones - Natural Gas Slips As Winter Weather Appears Distant

DJ Natural Gas Slips As Winter Weather Appears Distant

  By Timothy Puko

  Natural gas prices are retreating as weather forecasts stay too warm to extend gas's biggest rally in nearly a year
to a second day.

  Futures for January delivery recently traded down 1 cent, or 0.5%, at $1.901 million British thermal units on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. The retreat comes a day after prices rose 8.1%, their largest one-day percentage gain since
January.

  Weather forecasts have chilled a bit, pushing bearish traders to close out to start the week. But they are showing
that cold limited to the Rockies and Texas, with major markets for gas heat still smothered in extremely above-average
temperatures through New Year's Eve.

  MDA Weather Services in Maryland is forecasting Christmas Eve highs in the 70s for New York, Philadelphia and
Washington, matching or even hotter than Atlanta. Cash prices at the Transco Z6 hub in New York last traded at
$1.00/mmBtu, compared with Monday's range of $1.45 to $1.60.

   Temperatures that warm limit any urgency to buy gas even if forecasts for the country as a whole get slightly
cooler, Dominick Chirichella, analyst at the Energy Management Institute, said in a note.

  "Nothing has materially changed from a fundamental perspective to suggest that the ... gas market is ready to enter
into a sustained uptrend," he said.

  Physical gas for next-day delivery at the Henry Hub in Louisiana last traded at $1.74/mmBtu, compared with Monday's
range of $1.6625-$1.80.

  Write to Timothy Puko at tim.puko@wsj.com

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires

  December 22, 2015 10:47 ET (15:47 GMT)

  Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

122215 15:47 -- GMT
------