NYMEX May natural gas futures fell back in overnight US trading as participants looked beyond an expected continuation of storage draws after the traditional end of the withdrawal season to the changeover to injections on warmer weather further out.
At 6:45 am EDT (1045 GMT), the contract was 2.3 cents lower at $2.652/MMBtu.
The consensus of an S&P Global Platts survey of analysts is that the Energy Information Administration will estimate an 11-Bcf pull from gas in US underground storage for the week ended April 6 when it releases data at 10:30 am EDT Thursday.
Below-average temperatures prevail in the six-to-10-day and eight-to-14-day forecasts from the National Weather Service, but higher averages associated with spring will cap demand as heating demand falls and cooling load associated with summer heat is kept at bay.
Longer-range projections are for warmer-than-normal weather over a large part of the US in April-June.
