U.S. natural gas futures fell 1% on Thursday on forecasts for cooler-than-expected weather that could reduce air-conditioning demands, while investors awaited a federal weekly storage report for further cues.
Front-month gas futures fell 8.3 cents, or 1%, to $8.183 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at 9:23 a.m. EDT (1323 GMT).
“Expected temperature moderation across Eastern regions within 6–14-day time frame poised to limit upside follow through (in the market),” Ritterbusch & Associates wrote in a note.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly storage report at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT).
Meanwhile, “reports of Freeport LNG restart in early October that could revive as much as 2 bcf/d of export activity,” was supportive for natgas prices, Ritterbusch & Associates added.
Freeport LNG said in a release on Wednesday that it entered into a consent agreement with the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) that should allow the plant “to resume initial operations in early October.”
Gazprom will receive 50% of a new Russian entity replacing the Sakhalin Energy liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, a government decree showed, as Moscow re-writes rules for foreign firms operating in the country amid sanctions.