Investing.com – Natural gas futures fell on Tuesday, pulling back from a four-month high as updated forecasting models pointed to milder temperatures covering the eastern part of the United States by the second week of June.
That should limit early summer cooling demand for the fuel.
Front-month slumped 6.7 cents, or around 2.3%, to $2.896 per million British thermal units (btu) by 9:14AM ET (1314GMT), after hitting a high of $3.000, the strongest since January 31.
Futures did not settle on Monday due to the Memorial Day holiday.
Natural gas prices have been boosted in recent weeks by forecasts of building heat across major areas of the U.S.
Demand for natural gas tends to rise in the summer months as warmer temperatures increase the need for gas-fired electricity to power air conditioning.
Meanwhile, market participants looked ahead to this week’s storage data due on Thursday. Analysts forecast an increase in a range between 92 and 102 billion cubic feet (bcf) for the week ended May 25.
That compares with a build of 91 bcf in the preceding week, an increase of 81 bcf a year earlier and a five-year average rise of 97 bcf.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 1.629 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
That figure is 804 bcf, or around 33.0%, lower than levels at this time a year ago, and 499 bcf, or roughly 23.4%, below the five-year average for this time of year.
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Source: Investing.com
