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To: Ken Robbins who wrote (49490)	8/19/1999 11:26:00 AM
From: Tomas	Respond to of 95453

Natural Gas Rises to 21-Month High as Storms Build Up Strength New York, Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Natural gas rose almost 3 percent, reaching a 21-month high, on speculation that storms developing in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic could threaten offshore production platforms. A weather system off the Yucatan Peninsula has strengthened into a tropical depression, two steps below a hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said after trading yesterday. A similar storm off the coast of Africa is moving toward the Western Hemisphere, typical of activity during the hurricane season. ``As long as there is a weather fear out there, people will be hesitant to sell gas,' said Victor Yu, an analyst at Refco Inc. in New York. Even if the Gulf storm ``doesn't pan out to be a hurricane, there are all kinds of threats in hurricane season.' Natural gas for September delivery at the Henry Hub in Louisiana rose as much as 7.8 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $2.87 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the highest price since November 1997, the last time a contract closest to delivery rose above $3 per million Btu. Natural gas prices rose every day but two this month, gaining 13 percent as utilities burned more of the fuel than usual to meet electricity demand for air conditioning. The demand from utilities kept inventories from rising fast enough to fill storage depots before the busy winter heating season. Natural gas inventories last week were 5.6 percent below a year ago and at 74 percent of capacity, the American Gas Association said late yesterday, with more than two months remaining to store supplies. The AGA said inventories increased 51 billion cubic feet, or 2.2 percent, to 2.4 trillion cubic feet in the week. The report matched exactly the average of expectations of analysts. quote.bloomberg.com