Markets

Natural gas futures worked lower but quickly recovered following an inventory report showing an increase in working gas storage that was well above what traders were anticipating.

Natural gas for delivery Friday continued its trek lower in Thursday's trading as most traders looked at unsupportive weather and a lackluster power pricing regime and saw little need for additional volumes.

July natural gas is expected to open unchanged Thursday morning at $2.63 as traders anticipate a plump triple-digit increase in working gas inventories. Overnight oil markets eased.

The combined impact of weather, economic growth, customer demand, storage inventories and production activity will put downward pressure on natural gas prices this summer, but both production and demand are likely to set records, according to the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA).

Forget about $3/Mcf natural gas prices anytime this year because the U.S. gas surplus is growing and the chances of substantial increases in demand from power generators are fading. That’s the quick sketch drawn Wednesday by Teri Viswanath, senior natural gas analyst at BNP Paribas, the global institutional banker.

Lower prices should feed a pick-up in global natural gas demand over the next five years following a marked slowdown in 2013 and 2014, but growth is falling short of previous forecasts, with liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects becoming “soft targets for investment reductions,” the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.

Natural gas futures worked lower but quickly recovered following an inventory report showing an increase in working gas storage that was well above what traders were anticipating.

Natural gas for delivery Friday continued its trek lower in Thursday’s trading as most traders looked at unsupportive weather and a lackluster power pricing regime and saw little need for additional volumes.

July natural gas is expected to open flat Wednesday morning at $2.70 as traders attempt to reconcile decidedly bearish fundamental factors against a nascent bullish technical argument. Overnight oil markets plunged.