Dow Jones - Natural Gas Commentary

DJ Natural Gas Futures Rebound on Expected Stockpile Decline


   By Timothy Puko


  NEW YORK--Natural gas futures rebounded Wednesday as traders prepared for news of a big drain on stockpiles.

  Natural gas for January delivery rose 1.3 cents, or 0.3%, to $4.416 a million British thermal units on the New York
Mercantile Exchange.

  The U.S. Energy Information Agency is likely to report Wednesday that high demand from last week's cold drained gas
stockpiles by 149 billion cubic feet, according to the Wall Street Journal survey of analysts and brokers. That would
be a 25-fold increase on the week's five-year average drain and it would be the second-largest drain for a week in
November in EIA records that date back through 1994.

  The EIA is scheduled to release its storage data at noon EST. It is making an advanced release because of the
Thanksgiving holiday.

  Weather forecasts have grown warmer this week, meaning demand for home heating is likely to drop. That would usually
bring prices down, if not for traders anticipating Wednesday's announcement for a big stockpile drain, Teri Viswanath,
a natural-gas strategist at BNP Paribas SA in New York, said in a note.

  "The fact that futures remain reasonably well supported ... is relatively remarkable," she said.

  Physical gas for next-day delivery at the Henry Hub in Louisiana last traded at $4.24/mmBtu, compared with Tuesday's
range of $4.10-$4.165. Cash prices at the Transco Z6 hub in New York last traded at $4.05/mmBtu, compared with
Tuesday's range of $3.95 to $4.45.


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


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  (END) Dow Jones Newswires

  November 26, 2014 10:15 ET (15:15 GMT)

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