Natural Gas gains on talk of falling inventories, cooler weather

Natural gas futures rose in U.S. trading on Wednesday on talk of falling inventories.

Weather forecasting services predicted cooler temperatures to stick around the eastern U.S. before springtime weather patterns finally settle in, which pushed up prices as well.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in April traded at USD3.687 per million British thermal units, up 1.14%.

The commodity hit a session low of USD3.623 and a high of USD3.695.

The U.S. government will release its weekly report on natural gas supplies on Thursday and market talk that stockpiles will drop sent prices gaining on Wednesday. 
 

Early withdrawal estimates range from 88 billion cubic feet to 139 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 2.083 trillion cubic feet as of last week, 14.8% above the five-year average for this time of year. 

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, and weather reports that temperatures will remain on the cooler side in the coming days added to the rally.

U.S. Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in April were up 0.03% and trading at USD92.57 a barrel, while heating oil futures for April delivery were down 0.71% and trading at USD2.9295 per gallon. - INVESTING.COM