US natgas prices ease to two-week low ahead of storage report
NEW YORK: US natural gas futures eased about 1% to a two-week low on Thursday on forecasts for less demand next week than previously expected.
That small price decline came ahead of a federal report expected to show last week's storage build was much bigger than usual because mild weather kept both heating and cooling demand for gas lower than usual for this time of year.
Gas futures for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 4.9 cents, or 1.4%, to $3.443 per million British thermal units by 9:08 a.m. EDT (1308 GMT), putting the contract on track for its lowest close since April 30.
Despite a heat wave coming to Texas this week, analysts said heating and cooling demand should remain low across much of the rest of the country in coming weeks, allowing utilities to keep injecting more gas into storage than normal for this time of year.
Analysts projected utilities added 109 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas into storage during the week ended May 9.
That compares with an increase of 73 bcf during the same week last year and a five-year average build of 83 bcf for this time of year.
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