To: Elizabeth Andrews who wrote (38 ) 11/8/1998 7:11:00 PM From: Ed Ajootian Respond to of 272
Natural gas rises as weather cools By MICHAEL DAVIS Copyright 1998 Houston Chronicle November 05, 1998, 10:29 p.m. Cold weather pushed natural gas prices to a seven-month high Thursday while oil prices dropped below $14 a barrel. Gas prices, analysts said, moved higher as the first taste of winter weather settled into the Midwest and Northeast, prompting traders to lock in supplies for what is expected to be a cold December. Oil markets were seen as largely indifferent to Britain's pronouncement Thursday that the world body now has the basis to launch air strikes against Iraq because of its defiance of U.N. arms inspectors. Natural gas for December delivery at the Henry Hub closed on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $2.553 per thousand cubic feet, up 15.8 cents. It was the highest the near-month contract had closed since April 21, when it ended at $2.561. The run-up in gas prices came despite bearish storage figures released earlier in the week. The American Gas Association reported inventories rose by 48 billion cubic feet of natural gas last week, pushing the total to 3.09 trillion cubic feet, up from 2.80 trillion cubic feet at this time last year. Traders had expected the weekly increase to be more like 31 billion cubic feet. "Somehow, when the first sign of cold weather shows up, people get excited, and then reality sets in," said Nizam Sharief, director of energy research at Hornsby & Co. in Houston. "I think we are on the high end of prices now. We have plenty of gas in storage." He believes natural gas will trade in a range of $2.20 to $2.60 for the next four to six weeks. For the near term, however, cold weather will likely give natural gas prices the seasonal boost they typically experience when winter arrives. Heating demand is expected to be above normal across the country over the next week, according to forecasts issued by Weather Derivatives of Belton, Mo., a company that tracks weather for energy and agricultural markets. "Cool weather covers almost the entire nation, and we are expecting another storm to form over the Rockies early next week," said David Salmon with Weather Derivatives. "I am looking for all of November to be below normal." Heating demand over the next week will be 13 percent above normal in New York and 18 percent above normal in Chicago, the forecasting company said.