Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures fell sharply on Thursday morning, after data showed that natural gas supplies in storage in the U.S. rose slightly more than forecast last week.
Natural gas for delivery in December on the New York Mercantile Exchange tumbled 8.4 cents, or 3.12%, to $2.607 per million British thermal units by 10:32AM ET (15:32GMT). Futures were at around $2.615 prior to the release of the supply data.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. rose by 54 billion cubic feet in the week ended November 4, just above market expectations for an increase of 53 billion cubic feet.
That compared with a gain of 54 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, 54 billion a year earlier and a five-year average build of 38 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 4.017 trillion cubic feet, just 1.2% higher than levels at this time a year ago and 4.7% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Meanwhile, updated weather forecasting models showed that high pressure weather systems will dominate over the central and southern U.S. in the coming days, resulting in much warmer than normal conditions.
Overall, demand for natural gas will be much lighter than normal with the lack of subfreezing temperatures across the eastern U.S. and the Great Lakes-region.
Natural gas futures are down almost 16% over the past two weeks as a mild start to the winter heating season added to concerns over a deepening supply glut.
Gas futures often reach a seasonal low in October, when mild weather reduces demand, before recovering in the winter, when heating-fuel use peaks.