Natural gas futures - Weekly review: September 16 - 20

                     Natural gas futures ended Friday’s session at a four-day low, as forecasts showing mild temperatures across much of the U.S. through late-September weighed.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in October fell 0.9% on Friday to settle the week at USD3.687 per million British thermal units. 

Prices declined by as much as 1.7% earlier in the day to hit a session low of USD3.656, the weakest since September 16. 

Nymex gas prices settled 0.2% higher on Thursday at USD3.720 per million British thermal units, as a round of profit taking kicked in after prices rallied to a two-month high of USD3.820.

Despite Friday’s losses, natural gas prices advanced 0.3% on the week.

Market players continued to monitor near-term weather forecasts to gauge the strength of demand for the fuel.

Updated weather forecasting models pointed to mostly normal to below-normal temperatures across most parts of the U.S. Northeast Midwest for the next ten days.

Bearish speculators are betting on the mild weather to reduce demand for the fuel with autumn’s low-demand shoulder season looming.

The shoulder season is the period in autumn when gas demand typically slackens and prices fall.

Prices rallied to the highest level since July 19 on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 46 billion cubic feet last week, below market expectations for an increase of 56 billion cubic feet.

Inventories increased by 61 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change for the week is a build of 74 billion cubic feet.

Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.299 trillion cubic feet as of last week, 0.5% above the five-year average for the same week and 5.4% below last year's unusually high level.

Early injection estimates for this week’s storage data range from 70 billion cubic feet to 80 billion cubic feet, compared to a 79 billion cubic feet increase during the same week a year earlier.

The five-year average for the week is a build of 75 billion cubic feet.

Elsewhere in the energy complex, light sweet crude oil futures for November delivery settled at USD104.75 a barrel by close of trade on Friday, losing 2.6% on the week. 

Meanwhile, heating oil for October delivery fell 3.49% on the week to settle at USD3.006 per gallon by close of trade Friday. investing.com