Natural Gas Futures Rebound on Supply Disruption Concerns

Forexpros – Natural gas futures were up on Wednesday, rebounding from the previous session’s one-week low as fears over a potential disruption to supplies in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico boosted prices, but gains were limited as weather forecasts in the U.S. continued to show moderating heat.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for September delivery traded at USD3.949 per million British thermal units during U.S. morning trade, gaining 0.39%.     

It earlier rose as much as 0.85% to trade at a daily high of USD3.967 per million British thermal units.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said earlier that a tropical wave over the Caribbean Sea has a 30% chance of becoming a cyclone in the next 48 hours.

Energy traders track tropical storm activity in the event it disrupts production in the Gulf of Mexico, which is home to 10% of U.S. natural gas production.

Meanwhile, industry weather group MDA Federal said that while it expected warmer-than-normal weather in the Southern U.S. states, the U.S. Midwest and Northeast regions were expected to see seasonably normal weather in the next two weeks.

In a report released earlier, MDA said, “This hot air mass is not expected to be intense, only allowing seasonal to marginal above normal temperatures to reach these regions.”

Demand for natural gas tends to fluctuate in the summer based on hot weather and air conditioning use.

Predictions of below-average or above-average temperatures may prompt traders to buy or sell gas futures.

Markets were looking forward to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s weekly report on U.S. natural gas stockpiles for the week ended August 12 on Thursday.

The report was expected to show that U.S. natural gas inventories increased by 49 billion cubic feet, after adding 25 billion cubic feet in the preceding week.

Elsewhere on the Nymex, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in October jumped 1% to trade at USD88.03 a barrel, while heating oil for September delivery advanced 1.25% to trade at USD2.979 per gallon.




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