BLBG:Natural Gas Drops A Fifth Day As Hurricane Isaac Makes Landfall
Natural-gas prices fell for a fifth day as Hurricane Isaac made landfall, potentially curbing demand and bringing colder weather.
Gas fell as much as 0.7 percent after Hurricane Isaac came ashore in southeastern Louisiana at 6:45 p.m. local time yesterday. The storm may decrease industrial consumption for natural gas by 1.5 billion cubic feet a day, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) said in a report e-mailed today.
“Isaac will also bring colder temperatures, reducing cooling demand and therefore power generation demand for natural gas,” Stefan Wieler, an analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York, said in the report.
Gas for September delivery was at $2.596 at 11:45 a.m. Singapore time on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell yesterday 3.9 cents to $2.614 per million British thermal units, the lowest settlement price since June 21. The more actively traded October contract dropped 0.9 cents to $2.624. Prices have declined 13 percent this year.
The hurricane is 75 miles (121 kilometers) south-southeast of New Orleans with top sustained winds of 80 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said in a estimate at 10 p.m. local time.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi in Singapore at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mike Anderson at manderson34@bloomberg.net
