Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures started the week on a downbeat note on Monday, with prices sliding to their lowest level in around three weeks, as traders reacted to the reality that higher demand for the commodity was coming to an end.
U.S. natural gas for November delivery was at $2.929 per million British thermal units by 8:40AM ET (1240GMT), down 7.8 cents, or around 2.6%. It fell to its lowest since Sept. 11 at $2.925 earlier in the session.
Futures saw a weekly gain of nearly 1.6% last week, but still ended the third-quarter with a loss of about 3.5%.
Warm high pressure will quickly strengthen and expand east of the Plains this week with widespread highs of upper 60 to near 80°F across the northern U.S. and 80s to locally near 90°F over the southern U.S., according to NatGasWeather.com.
Gas futures often reach a seasonal low in October, when mild weather reduces demand, before recovering in the winter, when heating-fuel use peaks.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 3.466 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, around 3.5% lower than levels at this time a year ago and in line with the five-year average for this time of year.
Market participants looked ahead to weekly storage data due on Thursday, which is expected to show a build in a range between 48 and 58 billion cubic feet in the week ended September 29.
That compares with a gain of 58 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, a build of 80 billion a year earlier and a five-year average rise of 91 billion cubic feet.