Dow Jones - Natural Gas Holding Ahead of Inventory Data

DJ Natural Gas Holding Ahead of Inventory Data


   By Timothy Puko


  Natural gas prices are holding close to unchanged Thursday as traders await a weekly update on stockpiles.

  Natural gas for August delivery is down 0.9 cent, or 0.3%, at $2.676 a million British thermal units on the New York
Mercantile Exchange. Prices have stayed within a 7-cent range Thursday morning, a time when trading and volatility
often slow ahead of the U.S. Information Administration's weekly update on gas storage levels, scheduled for 10:30 a.m.

  "Activity has been placed on hold," Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy-advisory firm Ritterbusch & Associates, said
in a note.

  Producers likely added 85 billion cubic feet to storage for the week ended July 3, according to the median average of
21 forecasters surveyed by the Wall Street Journal. That would be higher than the five-year average of 75 bcf, but
lower than last year's 94 bcf.

  Physical gas for next-day delivery at the Henry Hub in Louisiana last traded at $2.6725/mmBtu, compared with
Wednesday's range of $2.68-$2.755. Cash prices at the Transco Z6 hub in New York traded in a bid-ask range of
$1.50/mmBtu to $2.00/mmBtu, compared with Wednesday's range of $2.25 to $2.32.


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


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  (END) Dow Jones Newswires

  July 09, 2015 09:32 ET (13:32 GMT)

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

070915 13:32 -- GMT
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