Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures fell sharply on Monday, hitting their lowest level in almost a month amid bearish weather forecasts that should limit demand for the fuel.
U.S. natural gas for September delivery was at $2.851 per million British thermal units by 8:25AM ET (1225GMT), down 9.0 cents, or around 3%. It fell to its lowest since July 5 at $2.834 earlier in the session.
Prices saw a drop of roughly 1% last week.
A weather system with cooling will linger over the East with showers and thunderstorms through August 5, resulting in comfortable temperatures.
A fresh weather system will arrive over the central, southern, and eastern U.S. the following week, resulting in light demand.
Natural gas prices have closely tracked weather forecasts in recent weeks, as traders try to gauge the impact of shifting outlooks on summer cooling demand.
Nearly 50% of all U.S. households use gas for cooling.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 2.990 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 9.2% lower than levels at this time a year ago but 3.7% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Early market expectations for this week's storage data due on Thursday is for a build in a range between 17 and 27 billion cubic feet in the week ended July 28.
That compares with a gain of 17 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, a withdrawal of 6 billion a year earlier and a five-year average rise of 44 billion cubic feet.