By Kenneth Fung
WASHINGTON (MNI) – The U.S. Energy Information Administration
Thursday is expected to report a draw on natural gas stocks for the
week-ended March 4.
Analysts in a Platts survey expect the EIA to report a draw of
between 78 billion and 82 billion cubic feet from natural gas storage
last week.
According to Platts, “A drawdown within that range would be smaller
than both the 112 billion cubic feet pull in the same week of 2010 and
the five-year-average of 107 billion cubic feet.”
“As a result, both the 9 billion cubic feet storage deficit to a
year ago and the five-year-average deficit of 15 billion cubic feet are
expected flip to a surplus,” the energy information firm added.
Natural gas inventories normally drop in the Fall and Winter due to
higher consumption during cold-weather months. In its March Short-Term
Energy Outlook, the EIA predicted that by the end of March, “1,549
billion cubic feet of working natural gas will remain in storage, a
downward revision of about 102 billion cubic feet from last month.”
The agency added that, “Cold temperatures and production
freeze-offs in February contributed to a larger-than-expected draw on
inventories. EIA expects that inventories, though somewhat below their
2010 levels for the first half of the year, still will remain relatively
robust.”
Although crude oil prices have surged due to ongoing unrest in the
Middle East, natural gas futures for April delivery have fallen over 18%
since trading $4.80 on January 24.
The EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook projected natural gas prices to
average $4.10 per MMBtu in 2011 and $4.52 per MMBtu in 2012.
–Kenneth Fung is a reporter with Need To Know News in Washington
** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
[TOPICS: M$U$$$,MAUDS$,MI$OI$]
