Natural gas edges off earlier lows as supplies meet forecasts

                    Natural gas prices rose from earlier lows on Thursday after official data revealed that U.S. inventories rose in line with expectations, though forecasts for a break in a cold snap allowed for profit taking that pushed the commodity in negative territory.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in December traded at USD3.565 per million British thermal units dur

ing U.S. trading, down 0.04%. 

The commodity hit a session low of USD3.492 and a high of USD3.567.

The December contract settled down 1.41% at USD3.566 per million British thermal units on Wednesday.

Futures were likely to find support at USD3.381 per million British thermal units, the low from Nov. 5, and resistance at USD3.659, Wednesday's high.

Updated weather forecasts continued to call for below-normal temperatures over the next few days, though a warming trend will appear for parts of the country before a fresh blast of arctic air heads south later in November, according to www.NatGasWeather.com. 

Updated model runs predicted cold air to return to the northern reaches of the country, though it won't dip as far south as once expected, which watered down demand for natural gas.

Midler temperatures dampen the need for heating this time of year, cutting into demand for natural gas at the nation's thermal power generators.

Elsewhere, supply data offset the bearish weather forecasts, pushing prices in and out of positive territory.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week ended Nov. 8 rose by 20 billion cubic feet, in line with expectations for an increase of 21 billion cubic feet.

Inventories rose by 12 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change for the week is a build of 19 billion cubic feet.

Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.834 trillion cubic feet. Stocks were 80 billion cubic feet less than last year at this time and 58 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 3.776 trillion cubic feet for this time of year.

The report showed that in the East Region, stocks were 93 billion cubic feet below the five-year average, following net injections of 10 billion cubic feet. 

Stocks in the Producing Region were 112 billion cubic feet above the five-year average of 1.185 billion cubic feet after a net injection of 12 billion cubic feet.

Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in December were down 0.09% and trading at USD93.80 a barrel, while heating oil for December delivery were up 1.57% and trading at USD2.9432 per gallon. - investing.com