Investing.com - U.S. natural gas prices moved lower as investors returned to the markets after the long New Year weekend on Monday, as weather forecasts showed that mild weather will return to the U.S. east coast in the coming week.
Updated weather forecasting models predicted the eastern U.S. will warm above normal from January 7 to 11 as mild high pressure quickly returns.
Natural gas for delivery in February on the New York Mercantile Exchange shed 2.0 cents, or 0.83%, to trade at $2.317 per million British thermal units during U.S. morning hours. It earlier fell by as much as 9.8 cents, or 4.2%, to a session low of $2.239.
Natural gas typically rises ahead of 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.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 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.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration's next storage report slated for release on Thursday, January 7 is expected to show a withdrawal of approximately 100 billion cubic feet for the week ending January 1. That compares with a drawdown of 58 billion cubic feet in the prior week.
Elsewhere on the Nymex, crude oil for delivery in February tacked on 55 cents, or 1.47%, to trade at $37.59 a barrel, while heating oil for February delivery jumped 1.65% to trade at $1.143 per gallon.