Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures extended losses from the prior session on Thursday, as market players continued to focus on healthy stockpiles of the fuel.
Natural gas for delivery in January on the New York Mercantile Exchange sank 3.6 cents, or 1.59%, to trade at $2.263 per million British thermal units during U.S. morning hours.
Trade volumes were expected to remain light on Thursday, with U.S. markets closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
A day earlier, prices declined 2.5 cents, or 1.08%, after data showed that natural gas supplies in storage increased by 9 billion cubic feet last week, above expectations for a build of 5 billion.
That compared with a build of 15 billion cubic feet in the prior week, a withdrawal of 141 billion cubic feet in the same week last year, while the five-year average change for the week is a drawdown of 36 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at an all-time high of 4.009 trillion cubic feet, 13.8% higher than levels at this time a year ago and 6.3% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Last spring, supplies were 55% below the five-year average, indicating producers have more than made up for all of last winter’s unusually strong demand.
Inventories of the gas are typically built up during the warm summer months and then drawn down in the winter as cold temperatures increase demand for the fuel.
But market experts warned that stockpile buildups will probably continue for at least another week, two weeks beyond what is normal, due to tepid winter heating demand so far.
Meanwhile, traders continued to weigh shifting weather forecasts for early December to assess the outlook for U.S. demand and supply levels.
Natural gas futures have closely tracked weather forecasts in recent weeks, as traders try to gauge the impact of shifting outlooks on early-winter heating demand.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.
Prices of the fuel typically rise ahead of the winter as colder weather sparks heating demand. But a mild start to the winter heating season underlined concerns over a deepening supply glut, sending prices to four-year lows near $2.00 per million British thermal units at the end of October.
Elsewhere on the Nymex, crude oil for delivery in January dropped 24 cents, or 0.57%, to trade at $42.80 a barrel, while heating oil for December delivery slumped 1.37% to trade at $1.383 per gallon.