DJ Natural Gas Retreats on Glut
By Timothy Puko
Natural gas prices fell to their lowest intraday point in nearly three weeks Friday morning with a record glut for
end-of-winter stockpiles still weighing on prices.
Natural gas for May delivery recently fell 6.1 cents, or 3.2%, to $1.908 a million British thermal units on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. It would be the sixth loss in the last nine sessions and the market's biggest retreat yet
from $2/mmBtu, which has repeatedly been the ceiling for recent rallies.
Inventories are 63% higher than they were at this time a year ago and 52% higher than the five-year average, the U.S.
Energy Information Administration said Thursday in its weekly inventory update. It did show a slight decline at a time
of year when stockpiles often grow, but most analysts said the decline wasn't enough to make a big dent in the supply
glut and suggest that prices should go higher.
Dominick Chirichella, analyst at the Energy Management Institute, said in his Friday note the market is more likely
to go up than go down because of recent repositioning from day-traders. But the heavy inventories are hard to overcome
and recent weather reports show mild temperatures on the way, bringing a clear end to the high-demand winter heating
season, he added.
"The caution flag is flying," Mr. Chirichella said.
Write to Timothy Puko at tim.puko@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 15, 2016 10:16 ET (14:16 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
041516 14:16 -- GMT
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