NYMEX March natural gas futures ticked higher in buying at lows overnight in the US ahead of Friday's open. At 7:10 am ET (1210 GMT) the contract was 4.4 cents higher at $2.900/MMBtu, having shed 13.9 cents the previous day.
March gas crumbled for the second consecutive session Thursday after the US Energy Information Administration outlined a net 99 Bcf withdrawal during the week ended January 26 that was below both the average anticipated 102 Bcf draw and the 160 Bcf five-year average pull.
Lackluster demand in the subsequent days suggests another modest withdrawal from stocks in the current week as the EIA's latest Natural Gas Weekly Update for the week ended January 31 shows a 2% week-on-week slump in total US gas consumption.
Seasonable to colder-than-normal weather in midrange outlooks suggests elevated heating demand and a ramped up rate of weekly storage draws but only briefly, as moderating conditions in longer-range projections suggests renewed demand weakness and a reprise of a slower rate of inventory erosion as winter transitions to spring.
