Forexpros – Natural gas futures erased gains in thin trade on Thursday, pulling back from a one-week high after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said that natural gas inventories declined less-than-expected last week.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in January traded at USD3.119 per million British thermal units during U.S. morning trade, tumbling 1.13%.
It earlier fell by as much as 1.95% to trade at a daily low of USD3.102 per million British thermal units. Prices rose to a one-week high of USD3.199 earlier in the day.
The January contract traded at USD3.183 prior to the release of the U.S. Energy Information Administration report.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ended December 16 fell by 100 billion cubic feet, after declining by 102 billion cubic feet in the preceding week.
Analysts had expected U.S. natural gas storage to drop by 103 billion cubic feet. Stocks fell by 181 billion cubic feet the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change for the week is a drop of 140 billion cubic feet, according to U.S. Energy Department data.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.629 trillion cubic feet as of last week, hovering below the all-time high of 3.852 trillion cubic feet it hit in November.
Stocks were 235 billion cubic feet higher than last year at this time and 387 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 3.242 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.
The report showed that in the East Region, stocks were 157 billion cubic feet above the five-year average, following net withdrawals of 63 billion cubic feet.
Stocks in the Producing Region were 202 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 1.012 trillion cubic feet, after a net withdrawal of 14 billion cubic feet.
Gas prices have been trading close to the lowest level since September 2009 in recent sessions as forecasts for warmer-than-normal winter weather limited early-season heating demand.
Gas futures typically climb during the winter months, as temperatures fall and demand for heating fueled by natural gas rises. But mild weather coupled with high production levels have kept prices depressed in recent weeks.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in February rallied 1.2% to trade at USD99.83 a barrel, while heating oil for January delivery rose 0.55% to trade at USD2.924 per gallon.
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