NEW YORK: US natural gas futures slipped on Wednesday but were on course for a second consecutive monthly rise, supported by above-normal temperatures, which boosted cooling demand and overall higher European gas prices.
Front-month gas futures for October delivery were down 12.1 cents, or 1.3%, to $8.92 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) by 9:47 a.m. EDT (1347 GMT).
“Early this morning, the (gas) market seems to be under a little bit of pressure, the oil market is down. We seem to be in kind of a energy risk-off mode, despite the fact that Gazprom cut off supplies to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group.
For the month, the contract was on track to gain about 8% after rising more than 51% in July.
However, “the above-normal temperatures are forecast to continue into early September but are then likely to cool, indicating gas power demand may start to trend lower after the warmer-than-expected summer,” Rystad Energy said in a note.
Dutch wholesale gas prices rose on a full shutdown of Russian flows to Europe via the Nord Steam 1 pipeline, while UK contracts eased following a rise of flows from Norway.
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