Natural gas futures declined in New York on speculation a government report tomorrow will show that weakened demand for the fuel has limited stockpile declines. A survey of analysts compiled by Bloomberg showed an expected stockpile decline of 85 billion cubic feet in the week ended Jan. 2, based on the median of nine estimates. Inventories the prior week were 2 percent above the five-year average, according to Energy Department data. “There’s no reason to get any more bullish than we are right now, or any more bearish,” said Martin King, an analyst at FirstEnergy Capital Corp. in Calgary. “Gas has had a justifiable bounce as crude rose and there were decent draws on storage. Right now, it’s searching for that additional catalyst to move it up or down.” Natural gas for February delivery fell 6.4 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $5.919 per million British thermal units at 9:26 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gas futures have fallen 25 percent in the past year. Inventories probably fell 78 billion cubic feet last week as higher temperatures muted demand for heating, and industrial activity was lower because of the New Year’s holiday, King said. “We see a net withdrawal of 59 billion cubic feet, a draw that would push the year-over-year comparison to a decent surplus and significantly widen it to the five-year average,” Scott Speaker, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s natural gas strategist, said in a note yesterday. The Energy Department is scheduled to release its weekly storage report tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. in Washington. Declines in manufacturing because of the U.S. recession, lower demand during last week’s holiday and a slight rise in shipments of the fuel from liquefied natural gas terminals all contributed to the weak withdrawal outlook, Speaker said.

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