By Reg Curren
March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Natural gas rose for the third time in four days in New York on forecasts that below-normal temperatures will cover the eastern half of the U.S. by mid- March, increasing demand for the heating fuel.
The cold will push into parts of the Midwest by March 8 and move eastward through March 17, according to MDA Federal Inc.’s EarthSat Energy Weather. About 72 percent of households in the Midwest rely on natural gas for heating.
“It’s been well below normal in the key heating regions,” said Lisa Zembrodt, an analyst at Summit Energy Services Inc. in Louisville, Kentucky. “And when you look at the eight-to-14-day temperature outlook, it’s all cold. It’s not the thick of winter, but it will be more heating demand than is considered normal.”
Natural gas for April delivery rose 10.2 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $4.254 per million British thermal units at 9:36 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gas futures have declined 24 percent in 2009. Futures are down 69 percent since reaching a 2008 high of $13.964 per million Btu.
Rising prices for crude oil helped to lift natural gas, Zembrodt said.
Oil for April delivery gained 89 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $41.04 a barrel in New York, rebounding after a decline of 10 percent yesterday.
Chesapeake Energy Corp., the Oklahoma oil and gas producer that lost more than half of its market value last year, said yesterday it cut oil and gas production by 7 percent after a plunge in prices made some wells unprofitable.
“The report from Chesapeake shutting down production shows we’re really getting to the point where you’re going to see more of that,” Zembrodt said. “You’re going to see more producers willingly shut in production and announce it.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Reg Curren in Calgary at rcurren@bloomberg.net.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment