Natural Gas Futures Drop Below $3 for First Time Since 2012
By Naureen S. Malik Dec 26, 2014 1:01 PM ET
Natural gas futures slumped below $3 per million British thermal units for the first time since 2012 on speculation that record production will overwhelm demand for the heating fuel.
Futures have plunged 26 percent in December, heading for the biggest one-month drop since July 2008, as mild weather and record production erased a surplus to year-ago levels for the first time in two years. Temperatures will be mostly above average in the eastern half of the U.S. through Dec. 30, according to Commodity Weather Group LLC.
“We don’t see anything scary in the forecast,” said Stephen Schork, president of Schork Group Inc., a consulting group in Villanova, Pennsylvania. “You had this psyche where people were worried about a polar vortex; we had a cold October and a cold early November, and boom, if you were long you are wrong.”
Natural gas for January delivery fell 1.7 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $3.013 per million Btu as of 12:47 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, futures touched $2.973, the lowest since Sept. 26, 2012. Volume was 58 percent below the 100-day average for the time of day.
Prices today have broken through several technical support levels, including $3.046 and then $3, and may be headed toward $2.80 or lower, said Schork.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-26/natural-gas-futures-drop-below-3-for-first-time-since-2012.html
