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MTECHTIPS:- U.S. natural gas futures struggle to move away from 20-year lows
U.S. natural gas futures struggled to move away from the lowest level in almost 20 years on Tuesday, as U.S. weather forecasts signaled warmer weather in the weeks ahead. Natural gas for delivery in April on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell to an intraday low of $1.679 per million British thermal units before regaining ground to trade at $1.688 by 15:30 GMT, or 10:30AM ET, down 0.2 cents, or 0.12%. Futures tumbled to $1.611 last Friday, a level not seen since August 1998. A break below $1.610 would have taken prices to the lowest level since September 1995. Updated weather forecasting models continued to call for much warmer-than-normal weather through the middle of March, dampening late-winter heating demand. The above-average weather is expected to continue through most of the month. The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption. However, a warmer-than-normal winter due to the El Niño weather pattern has limited the amount of heating days and reduced demand for the fuel. Natural gas storage in the U.S. fell by 48 billion cubic feet last week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, compared to expectations for a decline of 41 billion. That compared with draws of 117 billion cubic feet in the prior week, 198 billion cubic feet in the same week last year and a five-year average of around 138 billion.
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