Natural Gas erases losses from supply data, weather forecasts support

               Natural gas futures erased losses sustained earlier Thursday after investors looked past bearish supply data and snapped up nicely priced positions on sentiments that warmer weather will hike demand for air conditioning.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in June traded at USD3.981 per million British thermal units, up 0.06%.

The commodity hit a session low of USD3.890 and a high of USD4.018.

Natural gas prices dropped 2% earlier after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ended May 3 rose by 88 billion cubic feet, above expectations for an increase of 83 billion cubic feet.

Inventories rose by 30 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change for the week is a rise of 69 billion cubic feet.

Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 1.865 trillion cubic feet as of last week. Stocks were 737 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 99 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 1.964 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.

The report showed that in the East Region, stocks were 109 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, following net injections of 52 billion cubic feet. 

Stocks in the Producing Region were 40 billion cubic feet below the five-year average of 805 billion cubic feet after a net injection of 31 billion cubic feet.

Rising temperatures forecast for the coming weeks should hike demand for natural gas in the country's power plants as households and businesses crank up their air conditioning.

Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in June were down 0.53% and trading at USD96.11 a barrel, while heating oil futures for June delivery were up 0.50% at USD2.9293 per gallon. - investing.com