Investing.com - Natural gas futures steadied on Tuesday, one day after suffering their biggest one-day drop in nearly three weeks amid speculation the start of spring will bring warmer temperatures throughout the U.S. and cut into demand for the fuel.
Front-month U.S. natural gas futures ticked up 0.3 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $2.686 per million British thermal units (btu) by 8:50AM ET (1250GMT).
The commodity sank roughly 1.8% on Monday as a mild early-spring outlook weighed.
Spring usually sees the weakest demand for natural gas in the U.S, as the absence of extreme temperatures curbs demand for heating and air conditioning.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.
Meanwhile, market participants looked ahead to this week's storage data due on Thursday, which is expected to show a draw in a range between 20 and 32 billion cubic feet (bcf) in the week ended March 30.
That compares with a decline of 63 bcf in the preceding week, an increase of 2 bcf a year earlier and a five-year average drop of 28 bcf.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 1.383 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
That figure is 672 bcf, or around 32.7%, lower than levels at this time a year ago, and 346 bcf, or roughly 20.0%, below the five-year average for this time of year.
Record high domestic production levels have overshadowed the fact that stocks in storage are well below their seasonal averages for this time of year.