Investing.com - U.S. natural gas prices swung between gains and losses on Wednesday, as market participants looked ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. gas inventories to gauge the strength of demand for the fuel.
Natural gas for delivery in December on the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped 0.4 cents, or 0.17%, to trade at $2.367 per million British thermal units during U.S. morning hours.
On Tuesday, natural gas prices shed 1.4 cents, or 0.59%, as forecasts for the next two weeks turned milder, dampening near-term demand expectations for the heating fuel.
Natural gas prices have closely tracked weather forecasts in recent weeks, as traders try to gauge the impact of shifting outlooks on early-winter heating demand.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration's next storage report on Thursday is expected to show a build of approximately 23 billion cubic feet for the week ending November 13.
That compared with builds of 49 billion cubic feet in the prior week, 40 billion cubic feet in the same week last year, while the five-year average change for the week is an increase of 30 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at an all-time high of 3.978 trillion cubic feet, almost 10% higher than levels at this time a year ago and 4.5% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Last spring, supplies were 55% below the five-year average, indicating producers have more than made up for all of last winter’s unusually strong demand.
Natural gas prices typically rise ahead of the winter as colder weather sparks heating demand. But a mild start to the winter heating season underlined concerns over a deepening supply glut, driving prices to multi-year lows near $2 per million British thermal units at the end of October.
Elsewhere on the Nymex, crude oil for delivery in December tacked on 64 cents, or 1.57%, to trade at $41.31 a barrel, while heating oil for December delivery jumped 1.84% to trade at $1.393 per gallon.