Natural gas futures rose to the highest price in more than five months after a government report showed that U.S. inventories fell more than forecast last week as cold weather boosted demand for the heating fuel. Gas gained 2.9 percent after the Energy Department said supplies dropped 243 billion cubic feet in the week ended Jan. 14 to 2.716 trillion. A survey of Bloomberg users released five minutes before the report showed an expected drop of 234 billion. Temperatures last week were below normal in the East and Midwest, according to the National Weather Service.
“The storage withdrawal is respectable and the market seems to like it so far,” said Martin King, an analyst at FirstEnergy Capital Corp. in Calgary.
Natural gas for February delivery advanced 13.4 cents to $4.695 per million British thermal on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement price since Aug. 4.
Gas was trading at $4.56 before the report was released at 10:30 a.m. in Washington. The futures have declined 15 percent from a year ago. (more)
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