Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures flipped between gains and losses on Wednesday, as market players 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 September on the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped 0.3 cents, or 0.11%, to trade at $2.614 per million British thermal units by 9:39AM ET (13:39GMT), after rising 2.7 cents, or 1.04%, on Tuesday.
Market players looked ahead to weekly supply data due on Thursday, which is expected to show an increase in a range between 24 billion and 35 billion cubic feet of gas in the week ended August 12.
That compares with a gain of 29 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, 52 billion a year earlier and a five-year average of 57 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage currently stands at 3.317 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 10.9% higher than levels at this time a year ago and 13.3% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Meanwhile, updated weather forecasting models pointed to scorching heat along the U.S. east coast through August 21. The weather will then be hotter than normal in the Mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes region through August 26.
Demand for natural gas tends to rise in the summer months as warmer temperatures increase the need for gas-fired electricity to power air conditioning.
Natural gas futures have recently been under heavy selling pressure amid speculation that August heat won’t prevent stockpiles from reaching a record before the winter.
Unless intense summer heat boosts demand from power plants, stockpiles will test physical storage limits of 4.3 trillion cubic feet at the end of October.