Dow Jones Natural Gas - End of Day Update

DJ Natural Gas Climbs as Contract Expires


   By Timothy Puko and Carolyn Cui


  Natural gas futures rose Tuesday as the front-month contract headed toward expiration, pushing a rebound amid a raft
of bearish bets.

  Bets on falling prices have been outnumbering wagers on rising prices by more than 3 to 2 in recent weeks, a scenario
that can cause a rally on expiration day. Many of those bears will have to close out their bets or roll them over to
the next month, and to do that they must buy back into a contract they once sold.

  "Some traders would wait until the last minute to get out of their positions," said Phil Flynn, a futures account
executive at the Price Futures Group in Chicago. Unlike many other commodities, the first notice day comes after the
expiration in the energy markets, allowing traders to hold their positions until the last trading day.

  Prices for the front-month May contract gained 2.7 cents, or 1.1%, to $2.5170 a million British thermal units on the
New York Mercantile Exchange. The more heavily traded June contract gained 2.3 cents, or 0.9%, to $2.5370/mmBtu.

  Mild weather and healthy supply limited the gains, analysts said. At a time of near-record U.S. production, spring
weather forecasts also look comfortable nationwide, capping demand for energy to heat or cool homes. That is likely to
lead to large weekly surpluses that keep June futures stalled below $2.55/mmBtu, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of
energy-advisory firm Ritterbusch & Associates.
   FUTURES                   SETTLEMENT           NET CHANGE
   Nymex May                   $2.517               +2.7c
   Nymex June                  $2.537               +2.3c
   Nymex July                  $2.591               +2.2c
   CASH HUB                    RANGE             PREVIOUS SESSION
   El Paso Perm             $2.35-$2.37            $2.28-$2.31
   El Paso SJ               $2.35-$2.37            $2.2825-$2.31
   Henry Hub                $2.5175-$2.56          $2.4625-$2.495
   Katy                     $2.48-$2.5450          $2.44-$2.52
   SoCal                    $2.4875-$2.45          $2.40-$2.42
   Tex East M3              $1.65-$1.755           $1.62-$1.80
   Transco 65               $2.50-$2.52            $2.45-$2.4725
   Transco Z6               $2.40-$2.43            $2.45-$2.53
   Waha                     $2.42-$2.43            $2.36-$2.41

  Write to Timothy Puko at tim.puko@wsj.com and Carolyn Cui at carolyn.cui@wsj.com


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  (END) Dow Jones Newswires

  April 28, 2015 15:44 ET (19:44 GMT)

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

042815 19:44 -- GMT
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