DJ Natural Gas Quiet Amid Mild Weather
By Nicole Friedman
NEW YORK--Natural gas traded near flat Wednesday as neutral weather kept demand expectations subdued.
Natural gas for October delivery recently traded up 1.1 cents, or 0.3%, at $3.827 a million British thermal units on
the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Natural-gas prices have held in a tight range in recent months as a cooler-than-average summer reduced demand for
air-conditioning, lowering the need for gas-powered electricity. And winter demand for natural gas as a heating fuel
has yet to kick in.
The weather outlook in the next six to 10 days calls for "substantially lower than normal demand to close out
September and begin October," said Gaithersburg, Md.-based MDA Weather Services in a note Wednesday.
The so-called shoulder season between summer and winter is a peak period for producers to replenish storage supplies
before heating demand kicks in.
As of Sept. 12, natural-gas inventories stood 13% below the five-year average for the week. The U.S. Energy
Information Administration is set to release storage data for the week ended Sept. 19 on Thursday.
Traders are expecting another larger-than-average build, said Teri Viswanath, director of commodity strategy for
natural gas at BNP Paribas SA.
"Natural gas prices are currently trading flat on the week as the pick-up in inventory restocking deters potential
buyers," she said in a note.
Natural gas for next-day delivery at the benchmark Henry Hub in Louisiana recently traded at $3.86/mmBtu, according
to Intercontinental Exchange Inc., versus Tuesday's average of $3.8956/mmBtu.
Natural gas for next-day delivery at Transcontinental Zone 6 in New York traded at $1.85/mmBtu, compared with
$1.9855/mmBtu Tuesday.
Write to Nicole Friedman at nicole.friedman@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 24, 2014 10:02 ET (14:02 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2014 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
092414 14:02 -- GMT
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