Natural Gas Falls as Plentiful Supply Feeds Hot Weather Demand
New York, July 13 (Bloomberg) -- Natural gas fell more than
2 percent as utilities' immediate needs were met by newly
produced supplies, displacing the need to take gas from
inventories that are 26 percent higher than a year ago.
'It's very hot, but there is a plentiful supply,'' said
Patrick DeVille, a gas trader at Aquila Energy Corp. in Omaha,
Nebraska, the nation's second-biggest gas trading company. ''I
know that in south Texas and Louisiana, they're sucking up the
gas. Otherwise, we'd be falling further.''
Natural gas for August delivery at the Henry Hub in
Louisiana fell as much as 5.9 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $2.25 per
million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
Demand for natural gas to generate electricity for air-
conditioning is forecast to be strong because temperatures are to
climb to 3.4 degrees above normal, pushing average U.S. average
cooling demand to 31 percent above normal in the coming week,
according to Weather Derivatives of Belton, Missouri.
The nation's natural gas storage rate is 26 percent higher
than a year ago,
About 65 percent of the nation's storage capacity is full,
according the American Gas Association.
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