The NYMEX March natural gas futures contract climbed 6 cents Thursday after trending down in Wednesday trading.
The March contract settled at $2.697/MMBtu, a 6.1-cent rise from Wednesday's close, and trading in a range of $2.639/MMBtu to $2.701/MMBtu. The April and May contracts were trading up about 5 cents from Wednesday.
These price movements emerged after the US Energy Information Association announced a 177 Bcf withdrawal for the week-ended February 15, more than twice the volume of the 78 Bcf withdrawal reported for the previous week-ended February 8.
This week's reported withdrawal was 12 Bcf larger than the expected 165 Bcf consensus discovered by an S&P Global Platts survey of analysts, where responses ranged from 147 Bcf to 180 Bcf.
Stocks are now at 1,705, sitting 362 Bcf lower than the five-year average of 2,067 Bcf. Inventories at this time last year stoodabout 4% higher than current levels at 1,778 Bcf, according to the EIA.
S&P Global Platts Analytics data projects total US demand to drop off as the weekend approaches, falling an about 4.6 Bcf from Wednesday to 111.6 Bcf. This fall is driven by continued weakening residential and commercial demand as the end of winter approaches, falling about 4 Bcf on the day. Additionally, power burn demand is projected to decrease about 1.2 Bcf on the day to 29.9 Bcf.
The US National Weather Service forecasts near-term below-average temperatures to continue in the Midcontinent, while warmer temperatures are expected to sneak in to the southern half of the US.
Additionally, dry gas production is expected to dip for the third consecutive day to 84.9 Bcf and is predicted to inch up to 85.1 Bcf/d in the next eight to14 days, according to Platts Analytics.
The NYMEX settlement price is considered preliminary and subject to change until a final settlement price is posted at 7 pm EST (0000 GMT).
