US natural gas prices fall despite lower US stockpiles

Natural gas prices were lower Thursday even though US stockpiles fell last week and after reports that recent cold weather in parts of the US will moderate in the Northeaster United States over the Christmas holiday weekend.

Inventories of natural gas dropped by 164 billion cubic feet last week, according to the US Energy Information Administration, slightly more of a decline than had been anticipated, taking stockpiles to 1 percent below last year’s levels although they were still almost 10 percent above the five-year average.

January futures contracts for natural gas on the New York Mercantile Exchange were down 16 cents to $4.06 per million British thermal units in afternoon trade.

Crude oil prices were also lower, dropping even though the US Labor Department reported that first-time unemployment claims dropped by 3,000 last week, to 420,000.

January contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were down 41 cents to $88.21 per barrel at nearly 1:30 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while at last report Brent Crude had dropped 29 cents to $91.86 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Nymex Janaury gasoline futures added 1 cent to $2.32 per gallon in afternoon trade, while January heating oil futures were less than a cent higher to $2.49 per gallon.

The price at the pump for regular unleaded gasoline in the United States held steady overnight at $2.984 per gallon on average across the nation.