Natural gas futures were marginally higher in early trading Friday as the market continued to mull balances following a larger-than-expected storage withdrawal, and as forecasts hinted at colder temperatures developing later this month.
After adding 3.4 cents in the previous session, the March Nymex contract was up 1.2 cents to $2.442/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported a 217 Bcf withdrawal from U.S. natural gas storage facilities for the week ended Feb. 3. The print landed on the bullish side of expectations and outpaced the five-year average 171 Bcf withdrawal.
Total Lower 48 working gas in underground storage stood at 2,366 Bcf as of Feb. 3, 117 Bcf (plus-5.2%) higher than the five-year average, according to...