NYMEX February natural gas futures remained in negative territory on Tuesday midday and as of 12:44 p.m. EST (1744 GMT) were trading at $2.917/MMBtu, 9.4 cents below Monday's $3.011/MMBtu close.
According to analysts, the gas market is making more probes under the $3/MMBtu level, yet short covering and bargain-hunting keep it from making stronger dips.
"We just do not seem to be able to generate enough space-heating or industrial demand to eat into the very heavy supplies of natural gas which come from shale-gas," said Cameron Hanover President Peter Beutel.
Such growing storage surplus keeps pressuring prices. "Looking ahead, with at least another two weeks worth of bearish weather in front of us, we should see the surplus bump up against 600 Bcf by mid-January," Canaccord Genuity analysts wrote.
The February contract has traded between $2.903/MMBtu and $3.045/MMBtu so far Tuesday.
