Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Natural Gas Price $3.55/mmBTU

Natural gas futures fell to the lowest level in more than five weeks on speculation weak demand and a lack of storms in Gulf of Mexico production regions will boost a stockpile surplus.
Gas dropped as no major storms hit the Gulf in September, statistically the most active month of the hurricane season. Gas inventories were 6.3 percent above the five-year average in the week ended Sept. 24, according to the Energy Department, as mild weather reduced demand for gas for cooling and heating.
“We have fewer bullish fundamentals to stop the slide,” said Brad Florer, a trader at Kottke Associates Inc., an energy trading firm in Louisville, Kentucky. “Storms were not a situation as we close out the storm season, and we have plenty of gas.”
Natural gas for November delivery fell 7 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $3.727 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement price since Aug. 27. Gas futures have fallen 33 percent this year.
Cool weather in the U.S. Northeast will “give way to much warmer weather” later this week and next week, according to MDA Federal Inc.’s EarthSat Energy Weather in Rockville, Maryland.
About 53 percent of U.S. households use natural gas for heating.
New York will have a high temperature of 71 degrees Fahrenheit (22 Celsius) on Oct. 9 and a low of 51, according to the National Weather Service. The city will have a high of 58 degrees today.

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