The NYMEX September natural gas futures contract continued to slide midday Thursday on a higher-than-expected gas-storage build.
At 12:35 p.m. EDT (1635 GMT) it was trading at $3.9/MMBtu, 3.3 cents below Wednesday's $3.933/MMBtu close.
Prior to the release of storage report, the natural gas contract was trading flat on moderating weather, but updates to the National Hurricane Center's tropical weather outlook inspired some short covering, Gelber & Associates analyst Pax Saunders said.
"However, the outlook for storage pulled the bulls back into more price-neutral territory," Saunders added.
A tropical wave near Jamaica has become more organized and could strengthen into a tropical depression later Thursday, the NHC said. The agency said early on Thursday the system has an 80% chance of developing into a tropical cyclone over the next 48 hours.
Amid tropical concerns, the 80-Bcf storage injection number posted by the Energy Information Administration on Thursday sent the gas contract lower, to a "fresh seasonal low of $3.843[/MMBtu]," according to Saunders.
The storage build was above analysts' expectations of between 45 Bcf and 49 Bcf, as well as above both the 28-Bcf injection of a year ago and the five-year-average build of 43 Bcf.
The contract has traded Thursday between $3.843/MMBtu and $3.996/MMBtu.
