US natural gas futures were little changed on Thursday as a bigger-than-expected storage build offset forecasts for warmer weather and higher cooling demand over the next two weeks. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities added 106 bcf of gas to storage during the week ended June 2, leaving inventories about 10 percent above normal for this time of year.
That was more than the 98-bcf build analysts forecasts for the week in a Reuters poll and compares with an increase of 68 bcf during the same week a year earlier and a five-year average build of 94 bcf for the period. Front-month gas futures rose 0.8 cents, or 0.3 percent, to settle at $3.028 per million British thermal units. Despite the small gain, recent weeks of price declines due to stubbornly high inventories and mild weather forecasts have left the front-month down 12 percent below a recent high of $3.431/mmBtu on May 12. US gas consumption was projected to climb to 71.7 billion cubic feet per day next week from 68.2 bcfd this week as the weather warms, according to Reuters data.
Comments
Comments are closed.