Investing.com - Natural gas futures extended Monday's gains into Tuesday as weather forecasting models continued to point to colder-than-normal temperatures sticking around for the days.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in April traded at USD3.582 per million British thermal units, up 1.49%.
The commodity hit a session low of USD3.531 and a high of USD3.584.
Weather forecasting models continued to predict cold weather to grip much of the heavily populated central and eastern portions of the country for the remainder of this week and into the next, which should prompt more households and businesses to crank up the heat in the process.
The U.S. heating season, which runs from November through March, sees peak demand for gas.
About half of U.S. households use gas for heating purposes, according to Energy Department data, and while March has already arrived, sentiments that the winter will end on a colder note pushed up prices on Tuesday.
A colder end to winter has cut into inventories, though uncertainty as to when winter weather patterns will wane capped gains.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.299 trillion cubic feet as of last week, 16% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Early withdrawal estimates for this week's storage data range from 120 billion cubic feet to 160 billion cubic feet.
Inventories fell by 92 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change for the week is a decline of 107 billion cubic feet.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in April were up 0.90% and trading at USD90.93 a barrel, while heating oil for April delivery were up 1.60% and trading at USD2.9657 per gallon.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
