Natural Gas gains as cold weather keeps grip on eastern U.S.

                       Natural gas futures rose on Monday as below-normal temperatures continued to hover over the eastern U.S., while weather forecasting services predicted another delayed arrival to springtime warming trends. 

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in May traded at USD3.955 per million British thermal units, up 0.08%.

The commodity hit a session low of USD3.954 and a high of USD4.014.
Updated weather forecasting models on Monday pointed to below-normal readings staying in place for most of the eastern half of the U.S. over the next ten days, which sent prices rising.

The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption, though shifting weather patterns have many speculating a rally will last through the end of the month. 

Nearly 50% of all U.S. households use gas for heating.

Supply data released on Thursday capped gains, however.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report on Thursday that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ended March 15 fell by 62 billion cubic feet, short of market expectations for a drop of 70 billion cubic feet.

Inventory withdrawals were flat in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change for the week is a decline of 26 billion cubic feet.

Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 1.876 trillion cubic feet as of last week. Stocks were 502 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 162 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 1.714 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.

The report showed that in the East Region, stocks were 21 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, following net withdrawals of 47 billion cubic feet. 

Stocks in the Producing Region were 63 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 691 billion cubic feet after a net withdrawal of 15 billion cubic feet.

U.S. Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in May were up 0.48% and trading at USD94.16 a barrel, while heating oil futures for May delivery were down 0.06% at USD2.9710 per gallon.
Courtesy : INvesting.com