DJ Natural Gas Gains on Weather Outlook, Plant Explosion
By Nicole Friedman
NEW YORK--Natural gas prices surged Tuesday on expectations of continued strong consumption and concerns about a drop
in production following an explosion at a processing plant.
Futures for July delivery settled up 20.1 cents, or 7.4%, to $2.917 a million British thermal units on the New York
Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since August. Prices posted the biggest one-day percentage gain since
April.
The July contract expired at settlement Tuesday. The more-actively traded August contract rose 14.9 cents, or 5.4%,
to $2.89/mmBtu.
Forecasts for hot temperatures in the next two weeks are boosting expectations for robust natural-gas demand. Use of
gas-powered electricity increases during hot weather as households and offices consume more air conditioning.
The hotter weather outlooks forced traders who had bet on lower prices to close out those bets, pushing prices
higher, said energy-advisory firm Ritterbusch & Associates.
An explosion and fire occurred at a processing plant in Mississippi on Monday, according to news reports. The plant
processes natural gas that is produced offshore, and as much as 600 million cubic feet of day of output could be halted
if it cannot be rerouted to another plant, S&P Global Platts said Tuesday.
Write to Nicole Friedman at nicole.friedman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 28, 2016 16:03 ET (20:03 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
062816 20:03 -- GMT
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