Natural gas producers surge as futures reach 16-month high

NEW YORK – Things are slowly starting to turn around for Natural Gas as warmer weather and falling supplies have sent futures to a 16-month high. Natural Gas for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange touched $3.965 a million British thermal Monday, the highest since October 2011. Five Star Equities examines the outlook for companies in the Natural Gas Industry and provides equity research on Apache Corporation (NYSE: APA) and Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE: COG).
Forecasts for colder temperatures in major consuming regions across the U.S. have been a major cause for the recent surge in prices. Historically, around this time of year temperatures are on the rise and the demand for heating begins to fall. MDA Weather Services has forecasted mostly lower-than-normal temperatures for most of the U.S. throughout the rest of March. Since hitting a four-month low of 3.125 per million British thermal units in mid-February prices for the commodity have surged approximately 20 per cent.
Prices for the commodity have also received a boost from a steep decline in inventories. Last week, the Energy Information Administration reported stockpiles declined 146 billion cubic feet, compared with a decline of 66 billion cubic feet in the same week a year ago.
Apache Corp. is an oil and gas exploration and production company with operations in the U.S., Canada, (Horn River)Egypt, the United Kingdom North Sea, Australia and Argentina. The company reported record fourth quarter production of an average of 779,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, an increase of 5.4 per cent when compared with the year ago quarter.

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