Natural Gas Sees Highest Close in Three Weeks

The Wall Street Journal reported that warmer weather and the possibility of lower-than-average storage due to Hurricane Isaac brought natural gas for October delivery up 2 percent — to $2.854 per million British thermal units — on the NYMEX.

As quoted in the market news:

Analysts attributed the rise to a number of factors. Forecasters are calling for warmer-than-normal temperatures in the next few days on the East Coast and in the Midwest, said Jim Southard, a meteorologist at Frontier Weather, a forecasting firm. However, the forecast is expected to shift to cooler-than-normal temperatures next week, he added.

Also boosting natural gas is the expectation that this week’s storage injection will be lower than normal owing to the effects of Hurricane Isaac. Natural gas in storage sits at 12% above the five-year average. That surplus won’t vanish, but a smaller injection would erode the excess, analysts said.

Click here to read the full report from The Wall Street Journal.