The NYMEX March natural gas futures contract settled at $2.448/MMBtu Wednesday, 2.4 cents below its $2.472/MMBtu close on Tuesday.
According to analysts, Wednesday saw the gas contract attempting a balancing act between colder forecasts and a storage surplus expected to increase after the release of federal data Thursday.
"The game is still supply versus cold," said Pax Saunders, an analyst with Gelber & Associates.
The US Energy Information Administration on Thursday will estimate a withdrawal from gas storage of between 84 Bcf and 88 Bcf for the week that ended Friday, according to the consensus view of industry analysts.
This is far below the 206-Bcf withdrawal in the corresponding week of 2011 and an average five-year pull of 191 Bcf.
In the meantime, the US National Weather Service is forecasting below-average temperatures all across the central and south-central US in its six- to ten-day outlook and below-normal temperatures in the central and western US in its eight- to 14-day outlook.
March traded between $2.390/MMBtu and $2.508/MMBtu Wednesday.
