Investing.com - U.S. natural gas prices turned lower on Wednesday, snapping two days of gains driven by forecasts for warmer weaker and expectations that storage data will show a second weekly decline.
Natural Gas for delivery in August was down 1.71% to $2.787 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, off highs of $2.855.
In June natural gas prices rallied 7.2%, the largest monthly percentage gain since April 2014. It ended the second quarter up 7.3%.
The move lower came as temperatures were expected to remain cooler than normal in the Northeast and Midwest for the next two weeks, while the West Coast experiences a heat wave, according to MDA Weather Services.
Above-normal temperatures bolster demand for the power plant fuel. Demand for natural gas tends to fluctuate in the summer based on hot weather and air conditioning use.
Power plants account for approximately 32% of gas demand, according to the Energy Department.
Investors were also looking ahead to the weekly storage report form the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Thursday.
Last week the EIA said stockpiles rose by 75 billion cubic feet in the week ended June 19 to 2.508 trillion, less than analysts anticipated and below the five-year average of 86 billion.
Elsewhere on the Nymex, crude oil for delivery in August dropped to $58.24 a barrel, while heating oil for August delivery fell to $1.8621 per gallon.