Dow Jones Natural Gas - Morning Commentary

DJ Natural Gas Rebounds on Cold Start to Spring


   By Timothy Puko


  Natural gas prices are inching back up as forecasts grow colder, suggesting strong demand for the first week of
spring.

  Natural gas for April delivery is up 5.8 cents, or 2.1%, at $2.791 a million British thermal units on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. The gains completely reverse losses from Monday's session.

  Snow and cold in the Midwest have traders thinking about lingering heating demand, Jim Ritterbusch, president of
energy-advisory firm Ritterbusch & Associates, said in a note to clients. About half of all U.S. homes use natural gas
for heating fuel, making winter weather one of the biggest drivers for demand.

  "A stubborn cold weather factor remains in play as a supportive item for the time being," Mr. Ritterbusch said.

  Mr. Ritterbusch and other analysts think this boost will be only temporary. The natural gas market is still
oversupplied by about two billion cubic feet a day, which likely will cause prices to fall as heating demand declines
this spring, according to investment bank Simmons & Co. International.

  But that is still weeks away, especially in the biggest gas markets of the Midwest and Northeast, meteorologists said
Tuesday. "Major cold shots" are coming through the northern Plains and into the East, with areas from St. Louis to
Maine likely to see temperatures about 5 degrees Fahrenheit below normal through the first week of April, they said.

  It will feel "more like the dead of winter than the last weekend of March," WeatherBELL Analytics LLC in New York
said in its Tuesday morning update.

  Physical gas for next-day delivery at the Henry Hub in Louisiana last traded at $2.7975/mmBtu, compared with Monday's
range of $2.65 to $2.725. Cash prices at the Transco Z6 hub in New York traded in a bid-ask range of $2.65/mmBtu to
$2.84/mmBtu, compared with Monday's range of $2.75 to $2.795.


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


Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwireshttp://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires">http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
>

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires

  March 24, 2015 09:29 ET (13:29 GMT)

  Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

032415 13:29 -- GMT
------