US natural gas futures slid on Wednesday on expectations for lower demand, while investors awaited the weekly storage report, in anticipation of a above-normal storage injection. Front-month gas futures for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 5.4 cents, or 2.4%, to settle at $2.234 per million British thermal units.
"The market recognizes low demand during the shoulder months, and the market is also very confident about the supply meeting demand in the early winter," pushing prices down, according to Zhen Zhu, economist at Oklahoma City-based C.H. Guernsey.
Analysts said utilities likely added 97 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas to storage during the week ended Oct. 4. Some analysts expect injections of 100 bcf and above. That compares with a five-year (2014-18) average build of 89 bcf for the period.
If correct, that increase would boost stockpiles to 3.414 trillion cubic feet (tcf), 0.3% below the five-year average of 3.424 tcf for this time of year.
The amount of gas in inventory has remained below the five-year average since September 2017. It fell as much as 33% below that in March 2019. But with production close to a record high, analysts said stockpiles should reach a near-normal 3.7 tcf by the end of summer injection season on October 31.
Gas production in the lower 48 states edged down to 92.7 bcfd on Tuesday from 92.9 bcfd on Monday, according to Refinitiv data. That compares with an average of 93.1 bcfd last week and an all-time daily high of 93.8 bcfd on September 29.
Refinitiv projected gas demand in the lower 48 US states would reach 83.3 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) this week and 86.1 bcfd next week.
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