Natural gas futures - Weekly review: September 23 - 27

                   Natural gas futures ended Friday’s session marginally higher, as investors returned to the market to close out bets on lower prices after futures bounced off a key support level on Thursday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in November inched up 0.6% on Friday to settle the week at USD3.589 per million British thermal units. 

Nymex gas prices settled 0.6% higher on Thursday at USD3.567 per million British thermal units, as a round of bargain buying and short-covering kicked in after prices tumbled to a five-week low of USD3.450 earlier in the session.

Despite Friday’s modest gains, the November natural gas still contract lost 4.4% on the week.

Prices tumbled to the lowest level since August 27 on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 87 billion cubic feet last week, above market expectations for an increase of 76 billion cubic feet.

Inventories increased by 79 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change for the week is a build of 75 billion cubic feet.

Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.386 trillion cubic feet as of last week, nearly 1% above the five-year average for the same week and approximately 5% below last year's unusually high level.

Early injection estimates for this week’s storage data range from 82 billion cubic feet to 100 billion cubic feet, compared to a 77 billion cubic feet increase during the same week a year earlier.

The five-year average for the week is a build of 82 billion cubic feet.

Prices turned higher towards the end of the session as market players closed out bets on falling prices to lock in gains ahead of the expiration of the October contract on Thursday.

Meanwhile, 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 and Midwest for the next 10-to-14 days.

Demand for natural gas tends to fluctuate in the autumn based on cold weather and heating demand.

Elsewhere in the energy complex, light sweet crude oil futures for November delivery settled at USD102.87 a barrel by close of trade on Friday, losing 1.8% on the week. 

Meanwhile, heating oil for November delivery fell 0.79% on the week to settle at USD2.982 per gallon by close of trade Friday. - investing.com