BLBG: Natural Gas Climbs in New York on Forecasts of Below-Normal Temperatures
Natural gas futures rose to a three- week high on forecasts of colder-than-normal weather that may spark greater demand for the heating fuel.
Gas futures climbed to the highest intraday price since Dec. 9 as temperatures may be as much as 15 degrees below normal in parts of the Midwest from Jan 13. through Jan. 17, according to Commodity Weather Group in Bethesda, Maryland. Earlier forecasts had shown warmer-than-normal weather in the region.
“This is simply a reaction to the cold weather,” said Mike Rose, the director of energy trading at Angus Jackson Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “If it continues, it will erode our supplies.”
Natural gas for February delivery rose 15.8 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $4.563 per million British thermal units at 9:04 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The futures declined 21 percent last year and gained 5.4 percent in December.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christine Buurma in New York at cbuurma1@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net
