Investing.com - U.S. natural gas prices regained strength on Wednesday, rising for the first time in three sessions as market participants looked ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. gas inventories to gauge the strength of demand for the fuel.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration's next storage report slated for release on Thursday is expected to show a withdrawal of approximately 100 billion cubic feet for the week ending January 1, as cold weather boosted demand last week.
That would be the biggest withdrawal since March 2015 and compares with draws of 116 billion cubic feet during the same week a year ago and a five-year average of 129 billion.
Total U.S. natural gas in storage totaled 3.756 trillion cubic feet as of last week, 14.2% higher than levels at this time a year ago and 12.0% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Natural gas for delivery in February on the New York Mercantile Exchange tacked on 2.1 cents, or 0.92%, to trade at $2.346 per million British thermal units as of 14:45GMT, or 9:45AM ET.
A day earlier, natural gas prices dipped 0.9 cents, or 0.39%, even as weather forecasts showed that the U.S. east coast will be colder than normal in the coming week.
Natural gas prices typically rise during the winter as colder weather sparks heating demand, yet an unusually mild start to winter due to the El Niño weather phenomenon has limited the amount of heating days.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.
Elsewhere on the Nymex, crude oil for delivery in February plunged $1.22, or 3.39%, to trade at $34.75 a barrel, while heating oil for February delivery sank 3.27% to trade at $1.088 per gallon.