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Natural Gas Falls Ahead of US Storage Data Despite Hot Weather Forecasts

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Natural gas prices fell ahead of fresh storage data even as hot weather continues to support cooling demand.

Gas for August delivery was last seen down 1.7% to $3.17 per million British thermal units.

The drop comes despite forecasts that expect hot weather to continue for most states, boosting electricity demand to power air conditioning. Long-term forecasts from the National Weather Service expect nearly all states to see hotter than seasonal temperatures over its six to 14 day outlook.

The Energy Information Administration will release its weekly look at inventories of the fuel later on Thursday morning, with a larger than average rise in stocks expected.

"Survey averages are tightly clustered at +80-81 Bcf for today's EIA report versus the 5-year average of +64 Bcf. Temperatures for the sample week were cooler than normal over the eastern 2/3 of the US, while hotter than normal over the West. We expect a build of +81-82 Bcf," NatGas Weather said.

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