NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Natural-gas futures Wednesday climbed to their highest levels in almost seven weeks on speculation that a blast of early-spring cold across much of the northern tier of the U.S. would increase demand for the heating fuel.
Natural gas for April delivery settled 8.1 cents, or 1.9%, higher at $4.335 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest ending price for the nearby contract since Feb. 3.
An early spring storm has brought unusually cold temperatures to much of the northern tier of the U.S. and snow to parts of the Northeast and Great Lakes, and forecasters expect the chill to last through next week.
Private forecaster MDA EarthSat sees colder-than-normal temperatures from the Great Lakes through the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast through April 1. The weather outlook typically loses its sway as a driver of U.S. natural-gas prices with the arrival of mild spring weather, but traders said the consensus on the current cold snap was too much for the market to ignore.
Meanwhile, traders and analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expect the Energy Information Administration to report Thursday that 5 billion cubic feet of gas was withdrawn from U.S. stockpiles last week, less than average as mild weather cut demand.
Futures were supported Wednesday by the view that cold during the coming week will spur late-season withdrawals as power producers rely on inventories, said Cameron Horwitz, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity.
"It looks like you're going to pull gas out this week," Horwitz said. "Forecasts are for some late-winter weather coming through. We may see a withdrawal" for the week ending April 1.
Stockpiles are set to end the winter withdrawal season near 1.6 trillion cubic feet, well below estimates made at the beginning of what was a much colder-than-expected winter.
Futures had been under pressure during recent weeks from the view that strong North American production would overwhelm demand with the arrival of spring, when less fuel is typically used.
But jitters about the viability of nuclear energy and tightening global fuel stockpiles following the Japanese crisis and a surprisingly large draw from U.S. inventories last week pushed prices higher.
"People were so short this market," said John Woods, a trader with JJ Woods Associates, referring to bets that prices would fall. "All it needed was a hint of bullishness" to send traders rushing to reverse their positions, he added.
The benchmark gas contract has advanced by 16% from this year's lows on March 4 through Wednesday's close.