Natural gas wholesale contracts were higher on Wednesday, bouncing off the prior session's three-week low as natural gas traders monitored shifting weather forecasts to assess the outlook for early-spring demand and supply levels.
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Natural gas for May delivery tacked on 4.1 cents, or around 1.3%, to $3.1850 per million British thermal units. It lost 1.8 cents on Tuesday after hitting its lowest since March 29 at $3.114.
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Weather patterns are expected to be rather bearish through Thursday due to mostly mild temperatures dominating much of the country beside the far northern U.S., according to forecasters at NatGasWeather.com.
However, a colder weather system will track over the southern and eastern U.S. from Friday through next Wednesday to bring an increase in demand to stronger levels. Natural gas prices have closely tracked weather forecasts in recent weeks, as traders try to gauge the impact of shifting forecasts on early-spring demand.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption. Nearly 50% of all U.S. households use gas for heating.
See a recap of previous weeks EIA storage reports here.
EIA Natural Gas Storage Report 04-20-17
Working gas in storage was 2,115 Bcf as of Friday, April 14, 2017, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of 54 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 368 Bcf less than last year at this time and 282 Bcf above the five-year average of 1,833 Bcf. At 2,115 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
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Analysts were looking for a build of 48 bcf. As of 10:33 ET, natural gas futures were trading lower by 0.7% to $3.164.
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