Thursday, April 22, 2010

Natural Gas Prices Up on Lower Storage Levels

Investors in natural gas were surprised that storage levels had expanded less than anticipated, sending prices up, settling at $4.128 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange, an increase of 17.3 cents.

Original estimates by the energy department were natural gas levels were going to reach as high as 80 billion cubic feet, while growing by only 73 billion cubic feet; close to 1.83 trillion cubic feet for the week ending April 16.

Much of the discrepancy came from mild weather which had caused analysts to believe natural gas storage levels would rise higher.

Possible increased usage from the manufacturing sector and natural gas production being less than thought are reasons given for the storage levels being less than estimated.

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