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Natural Gas Falls on Cooler Long-Term Forecasts

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Natural gas prices fell early Wednesday as cooler long-term forecasts reduced expectations for cooling demand.

Gas for August delivery was last seen down $0.03 at $2.88 per million British thermal units.

The decline came as long-term forecasts from the National Weather Service expect seasonal or cooler-than-normal temperatures across most states in the northeastern US over its six-to-14-day outlook, curbing air-conditioning demand.

Still, supply remains robust. In its weekly survey, the Energy Information Administration said stocks of the fuel rose by 61 billion cubic feet in the prior week, above forecasts from forecaster NatGasWeather for an increase of up to 54 billion cubic feet. The report said inventories ended the week at 2.98 trillion cubic feet, 6.6% above the five-year average. The agency will release fresh storage data tomorrow.

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