Dow Jones - Natural Gas Inches Lower In Advance of Storage Report

DJ Natural Gas Inches Lower in Advance of Storage Report

By Timothy Puko

     Natural gas prices ticked lower Thursday as the market was divided by the upcoming weekly storage update and
weather forecasts that show a mix of warm and cool temperatures.

     Prices for the front-month December contract settled down 0.3 cent, or 0.1%, at $2.26 a million British thermal
units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures briefly touched the lowest intraday price in the last 10 sessions
just after 9 a.m., and then rebounded to flip-flop around unchanged for the rest of the day.

     Prices received support from colder weather forecasts, with many traders hoping the onset of winter will bring a
traditional boost to both heating demand and prices. About half of U.S. homes rely on gas for heat.

     But while national forecasts are showing some of the coolest temperatures of the season in large parts of the
country, they also show even warmer weather on the way in Eastern and Midwestern markets that use the most gas.
Temperatures more than 8-degrees-Fahrenheit-above-normal will cover the region from Chicago to Boston for most of the
week before Thanksgiving, according to several of Thursday's forecasts.

     "...We are not seeing much shift in the short term weather outlooks capable of sustaining price gains for now,"
Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy-advisory firm Ritterbusch & Associates, said in a note.

     The wait for a delayed update on stockpiles also kept prices from moving far, Aaron Calder, senior market analyst
at energy-consulting firm Gelber & Associates in Houston, said in a note. Traders often consolidate their positions
ahead of the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly update, scheduled this week for Friday at 10:30 a.m. EST,
a one-day delay because of Wednesday's Veterans Day observance.

     Analysts and traders surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect that natural-gas inventories rose 52 billion cubic
feet, nearly double the five-year average, in the week ended Friday. That would put stockpiles at a record of 4
trillion cubic feet, 10% above levels from a year ago and 4.6% above the five-year average.

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


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  (END) Dow Jones Newswires

  November 12, 2015 15:01 ET (20:01 GMT)

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111215 20:01 -- GMT
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