Leading up to today's EIA Natural Gas Storage report, Natural gas wholesale contracts declined for the second day in a row on Wednesday, touching a more than two-week low as market players looked ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. gas inventories to gauge the strength of demand for the fuel.
Natural gas for delivery in October on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell to an intraday low of $2.676 per million British thermal units, the weakest level since August 23. On Tuesday, natural gas wholesale contracts sank 7.5 cents, or 2.69%, as traders reacted to the reality that higher summer demand for the commodity is coming to an end.
Demand for natural gas tends to rise in the summer months as warmer temperatures increase the need for gas-fired electricity to power air conditioning. But with autumn due to start on September 22, power burns to feed air conditioning demand have probably peaked for now, market analysts said. Unless intense late-summer heat boosts demand from power plants, stockpiles could possibly test physical storage limits of 4.3 trillion cubic feet at the end of October.
Recap of last weeks EIA Natural Gas inventory Report.
EIA Natural Gas Storage Report 9-08-16
Working gas in storage was 3,437 Bcf as of Friday, September 2, 2016, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of 36 Bcf from the ( previous weeks report ). Stocks were 196 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 306 Bcf above the five-year average of 3,131 Bcf. At 3,437 Bcf, total working gas is above the five-year historical range.
Analysts estimated utilities added about 43 billion cubic feet during the week ended Sept. 2. As of 10:32 ET, natural gas futures were trading higher by 3.7% to $2.776.
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