Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures slipped to their lowest level in a week on Wednesday, as investors looked ahead to weekly data from the U.S. on supplies in storage to gauge demand for the fuel.
U.S. natural gas for November delivery sank 4.9 cents, or around 1.7%, to $2.913 per million British thermal units by 8:40AM ET (1240GMT). It fell to its lowest level since Sept. 11 at $2.897 earlier in the session.
Futures tacked on 1.6 cents, or around 0.5%, on Tuesday, as hopes for higher heating demand this winter than in the past two winters provided support.
Gas futures often reach a seasonal low in October, when mild weather weakens demand, before recovering in the winter, when heating-fuel use peaks.
Market participants looked ahead to this week's storage data due on Thursday, which is expected to show a build in a range between 52 and 62 billion cubic feet (bcf) in the week ended October 13.
That compares with a gain of 87 bcf in the preceding week, a build of 77 billion a year earlier and a five-year average rise of 78 bcf.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 3.595 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That figure is 153 bcf, or around 4.1%, lower than levels at this time a year ago and 8 bcf, or roughly 0.2%, 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.