DJ Natural Gas Buoyed by Frigid Forecasts
By Nicole Friedman
NEW YORK--Natural-gas prices ticked higher Tuesday as updated weather forecasts showed colder-than-normal
temperatures extending into early March.
Natural-gas futures for March delivery recently rose 1.7 cents, or 0.6%, to $2.821 a million British thermal units.
About half of U.S. households use natural gas as their primary heating fuel, and frigid weather in recent weeks has
elevated natural-gas demand.
"Another very impressive cold shot will engulf the East this week, and the forecast is colder than forecast last
week," said forecaster WSI Corp. in a note Tuesday. The forecaster called for below-average temperatures to persist
across the Midwest and East Coast in the next 11 to 15 days.
However, strong production has counteracted the increase in natural-gas consumption, limiting fears that stockpiles
of the fuel will be depleted this winter as they were last year.
"The weather rally over the last week has been somewhat muted, primarily because nat gas supply remains robust," said
Dominick Chirichella, analyst at the Energy Management Institute, in a note.
Physical gas for next-day delivery at the Henry Hub in Louisiana last traded at $2.955/mmBtu, compared with Friday's
range of $2.68-$2.77. Cash prices at the Transco Z6 in New York traded around $13.00/mmBtu, compared with Friday's
range of $15.00-$21.00.
Write to Nicole Friedman at nicole.friedman@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 17, 2015 09:14 ET (14:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
021715 14:14 -- GMT
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