Natural gas drops on first day of spring, soft US stockpile report

Last weeks mercantile market saw a decrease in the price of natural gas. The first day of spring marked a change of pattern in the investors tendency to invest in this commodity. If winter had been the season when natural gas reached bigger peaks due to the big demand of this commodity, things were bound to change once spring arrived. March 21st, marking the first astronomic day of spring in the Northern hemisphere, was the precise day when the price of gas went down, though not dramatically, as investors started to speculate that the seasonably mild weather will lead to lower demand in heating necessities. The forecast for the next couple of weeks in what the weather is concerned begs to differ, with unseasonably bad weather being expected on the American Eastern coast. The rest of the continent and of the Northern hemisphere will experience reasonably mild temperatures, normal for this time of the year, if not higher than usually. In what prices of natural gas are concerned on the New York Mercantile Exchange, futures for natural gas for delivery in the next month are traded at $ 4.356 per million British thermal units during United States trading, the price having dropped with 2,67% since March. The seasons high is expected to be $ 4.474 per million British thermal units, whilst the seasons low is predicted to be $ 4.350 per million British thermal units. November through March is the period when the price of gas reaches its peak, as demand for natural gas increases severely during the cold months. According to the Energy Department of the Unites States Government, 52% of American households rely on natural gas in order to heat their homes. With new methods of forging for natural gas, such as fracking- practiced heavily by companies such as Chevron in Pennsylvania and Texas, the United States government is able to provide the needed amount of natural gas- not only for households, but also for companies and large scale factories and industries. In the week ended on March 14th, natural gas storage in the United States fell by 48 billion cubic feet, a decline lower than predicted, with specialists having forecast a decline of as much as 59 billion cubic feet. As a matter of fact, this time around last year, natural gas supplies fell by 74 billion cubic feet. The five years average of decline of natural gas in storage gravitates around 30 billion cubic feet. The year 2004 was a difficult one in what natural gas stocks were concerned. With the Iraq war being underway and the industry being more focused on ammunition production, natural gas stocks fell heavily. In 2004, natural gas supplies were with 953 billion cubic feet less than last year this time, not to mention 876 billion cubic feet under the five years average of natural gas supply of 1892 trillion cubic feet. Luckily, no serious damage was done, with the natural gas companies being able to multiply efforts in order to fill in the mass gap created in natural gas

supply. In the East Region, stocks of natural gas were 399 billion cubic feet below the five year average, following actions of net withdrawal of 35 billion cubic feet. On the Producing Region, stocks fell with 351 billion cubic feet under the five years average after a withdrawal of 11 billion cubic feet of natural gas. As it always happens this time of the year, the price of gas will decrease since the demand for natural gas for heating purposes is lowering. A look at the New York Mercantile Exchange clearly gives insight on how the futures market for natural gas will look like in the following months, prices of natural gas clearly dropping. With natural gas dropping, investors are looking at other commodities in which to invest, at least until demand for natural gas starts to climb up again, usually starting with mid-fall. More economic news on http://teletrade.hu/trade/terminal