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NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Analysts and traders expect government data scheduled for release Thursday to show a larger-than-average build in gas inventories amid mild weather in the major gas-consuming regions last week.

  The U.S. Energy Information Administration is expected to report that 100 billion cubic feet of gas were added to storage during the week ended May 21, according to the average prediction of 28 analysts and traders in a Dow Jones Newswires survey.
  The EIA is scheduled to release its storage data Thursday at 10:30 a.m. EDT.
  The survey’s median was also 100 billion cubic feet, with a high of a 110 bcf build and a low of a 90 bcf injection. The storage estimate falls short of last year’s 106 bcf build in storage for the same week, but surpasses the five-year average build for that week, which was 94 bcf.
  If the storage estimate is correct, inventories as of May 21 will total 2.265 trillion cubic feet, about 16% above the five-year average and 3% above last year’s level for the same week.
  Moderate temperatures across much of the U.S. last week curbed the demand for natural gas for cooling and should lead to a large injection into storage, wrote Kent Bayazitoglu, an analyst with Gelber & Associates, a Houston energy advisory firm, in a note to clients.
  ”Seasonally mild weather should helped the market produce the first triple-digit injection of the year,” Bayazitoglu wrote. “Last week’s bearish injection–in relation to the late season cold weather–helped trigger the sell-off of last week’s rally. An injection of under 100 Bcf could start another rally.”
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