Natural Gas gains as U.S. supplies plunge unexpectedly

             

                    Natural gas futures hit highs not seen since November of last year on Thurdsday after official data revealed supplies plunged well beyond market expectations last week.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in April traded at USD3.791 per million British thermal units, up 3.00%.

The commodity hit a session low of USD3.679 and a high of USD3.803.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ended March 8 fell by 145 billion cubic feet, compared to expectations for a drop of 134 billion cubic feet.

Inventories fell by 66 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change for the week is a decline of 74 billion cubic feet.

Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 1.938 trillion cubic feet as of last week. Stocks were 440 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 198 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 1.740 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.

The report showed that in the East Region, stocks were 38 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, following net withdrawals of 92 billion cubic feet.

Stocks in the Producing Region were 85 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 684 billion cubic feet after a net withdrawal of 48 billion cubic feet.

Elsewhere, winter continues to refuse to suggest when it will yield to warmer springtime weather patterns.

Industry group MDA Weather Services reported earlier that that below-normal temperatures should stick around over the heavily populated eastern regions of the country during the next five days.

The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.

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

U.S. Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in April were up 0.35% and trading at USD92.84 a barrel, while heating oil futures for April delivery were down 0.04% and trading at USD2.9232 per gallon. - Investing.com