Natural Gas Futures Pull Further Away From $3-Level

Investing.com – U.S. natural gas futures edged lower for the second session in a row on Wednesday, as investors looked ahead to weekly data from the U.S. on supplies in storage to gauge demand for the fuel.

shed 3.7 cents, or around 1.3%, to $2.938 per million British thermal units by 8:55AM ET (1255GMT), after losing 1.7 cents in the last session.

Futures as traders reacted to forecasts showing temperatures across the east-central U.S. would not be as cold as initially expected.

Gas futures often reach a seasonal low in October, when mild weather weakens demand, before recovering in the winter, when heating-fuel use peaks.

Market participants looked ahead to this week’s due on Thursday, which is expected to show a build in a range between 62 and 72 billion cubic feet (bcf) in the week ended October 20.

That compares with a gain of 51 bcf in the preceding week, a build of 73 bcf a year earlier and a five-year average rise of 75 bcf.

Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 3.646 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That figure is 179 bcf, or around 4.9%, lower than levels at this time a year ago and 35 bcf, or roughly 1%, below the five-year average for this time of year.

Analysts estimated the amount of gas in storage would end the April-October injection season at 3.8 tcf due primarily to higher liquefied natural gas shipments abroad. That would fall short of the year-earlier record of 4.0 tcf and the five-year average of 3.9 tcf.

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