DJ Natural Gas Starts to Fall Ahead of Storage Update
By Timothy Puko
Natural gas prices have started to fall ahead of a weekly storage update that's expected to signal soft demand for
the heating fuel.
Natural gas for March delivery is down 0.4 cent, or 0.2%, at $2.837 a million British thermal units on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. Trading volumes are light, but analysts said that will probably change after the U.S. Energy
Information Administration updates storage levels at 10:30 a.m. EST.
Analysts and brokers expect the report to be a very bearish comparison of supply and demand for the peak of winter
home-heating season.
Stockpiles likely fell by 111 billion cubic feet of gas during the week ended Jan. 23, a third less than they usually
do for this time of year, according to the average forecast of 20 analysts and traders surveyed by The Wall Street
Journal.
"What's more the short-term weather outlook suggests that the call on storage will likely remain comparatively
light," Teri Viswanath, a natural-gas strategist at BNP Paribas SA in New York, said in a note.
Stockpiles have already surged past their levels from this time a year ago and could be poised to pass five-year
averages this winter. Early pipeline data suggests a 125 withdrawal for next week's storage update, Ms. Viswanath said,
and that would be a quarter lower than the five-year average for the week, according to EIA data.
Physical gas for next-day delivery at the Henry Hub in Louisiana last traded at $2.87/mmBtu, compared with
Wednesday's range of $2.86-$2.9075. Cash prices at the Transco Z6 in New York traded in a bid-ask range of $7.00/mmBtu
to $20.00/mmBtu, compared with Wednesday's range of $3.60 to $4.25.
Write to Timothy Puko at tim.puko@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 29, 2015 09:43 ET (14:43 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
012915 14:43 -- GMT
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