Investing.com - Natural gas futures extended losses into a third session to hit its lowest level in around three weeks on Wednesday, as investors looked ahead to weekly data from the U.S. on supplies in storage to gauge demand for the fuel.
The report comes out one day ahead of its normal release time due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. on Thursday.
U.S. natural gas futures declined 2.4 cents, or around 0.8%, to $2.994 per million British thermal units by 7:20AM ET (1220GMT). It reached its worst level since Nov. 3 at $2.993 earlier in the session.
Prices lost 3.0 cents, or about 1%, on Tuesday, as traders reacted to forecasts calling for less heating demand through the end of this month.
Gas futures often reach a seasonal low in late October and early November, when mild weather weakens demand, before recovering in the winter, when heating-fuel use peaks.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release its official weekly natural gas storage report for the week ended Nov. 17 at 12:00PM ET (1700GMT), amid expectations for a withdrawal of 51 billion cubic feet (bcf).
That compares with a drop of 18 bcf in the preceding week, a fall of 2 bcf a year earlier and a five-year average decline of 26 bcf.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 3.772 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to the EIA. That figure is 271 bcf, or around 6.7%, lower than levels at this time a year ago and 101 bcf, or roughly 2.6%, below the five-year average for this time of year.
Analysts estimated the amount of gas in storage would end the April-October injection season at 3.8 tcf due primarily to higher liquefied natural gas shipments abroad. That would fall short of the year-earlier record of 4.0 tcf and the five-year average of 3.9 tcf.