Dow Jones - Natural Gas Prices Rise Ahead of Hotter Weather

DJ Natural Gas Prices Rise Ahead of Hotter Weather


   By Nicole Friedman


  NEW YORK--Natural-gas prices rose to a near-one-month high Monday on expectations that above-average temperatures in
the next two weeks would increase demand for the fuel.

  Consumption of gas-powered electricity rises in the summer as people turn on their air-conditioning units. Though the
weather has been fairly mild in recent weeks, the most-recent forecasts predict high temperatures in the South and
lower Midwest in the next two weeks, private forecaster WSI Corp. said in a note.

  Natural-gas futures for August delivery settled up 9.4 cents, or 3.4%, at $2.864 a million British thermal units on
the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since June 16.

  "The ability to maintain recent price levels is due primarily to expectations for moderately hot weather in
mid-July," Andy Weissman, chief executive of EBW AnalyticsGroup, said in a note. "Electricity demand is likely to rise
to its highest level of the year."

  However, market watchers expect the U.S. Energy Information Administration to report Thursday that a large amount of
natural gas was added to storage last week amid moderate demand and robust production, which could cap price gains.

  "We would caution into reading too much into today's move," said Gelber & Associates in a note. "We expect lower
prices with further strong injections."

    FUTURES         SETTLEMENT     NET CHANGE
    Nymex August    $2.864         9.4c
    Nymex September $2.867         8.7c
    Nymex October   $2.895         8.4c
    CASH           HUB RANGE              PREVIOUS SESSION
    El Paso Perm   $2.78 - $2.88          $2.45 - $2.56
    El Paso SJ     $2.80 - $2.83          $2.48 - $2.58
    Henry Hub      $2.85 - $2.91          $2.725 - $2.825
    Katy           $2.80 - $2.86          $2.74 - $2.80
    SoCal          $2.90 - $2.975         $2.58 - $2.69
    Tex East M3    $1.36 - $1.50          $1.18 - $1.40
    Transco 65     $2.845 - $2.90         $2.73 - $2.80
    Transco Z6     $2.75 - $2.89          $1.80 - $2.00
    Waha           $2.81 - $2.87          $2.62 - $2.68


  Write to Nicole Friedman at nicole.friedman@wsj.com


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  (END) Dow Jones Newswires

  July 13, 2015 15:42 ET (19:42 GMT)

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

071315 19:42 -- GMT
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