Natural Gas Rises Ahead of Storage Data Despite Mild Long-Term Forecasts
Natural gas was higher early Thursday ahead of fresh storage data despite mild forecasts for big eastern markets.In its first day as the active contract, gas for July delivery was up $0.15 to US$3.04 per million British thermal units.The rise comes even as long-term forecasts from the National Weather Service expect eastern markets to be seasonal or cooler over its six to 10 day outlook, cutting into cooling demand."Weather remains a risk with the northeast, which suffered a heat wave just a week ago, now looking like some late season overnight heating demand could actually be in the cards. Southern US power demands have been muted over the past few days but should increase before the end of the week," Gary Cunningham, Director of Market Research at Tradition Energy, wrote.The Energy Information Administration will release its weekly look at U.S. inventories of the fuel, with a lighter than usual rise expected."For today's EIA weekly storage report, survey averages suggest a build of +93-95 Bcf, slightly smaller than the 5-year average of +97 Bcf. There was record breaking heat over the East last week, while it was cooler than normal across the Northwest, Mtn West, and Plains. We expect a build of +87 Bcf and to the bullish side due to lighter solar generation and East Coast heat," NatGasWeather noted.