Warm December softened U.S. natgas prices

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A pre-Christmas warming trend across the United States cooled off natural gas prices last week.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that although the nation's natural gas storage levels decreased 80 billion cubic feet to 2.7 trillion cubic feet as of Dec. 19, the spot price at the benchmark Henry Hub in Louisiana fell $1.06 per million British thermal units to $5.50 MMBtu.

Declines of more than $1 MMBtu were also seen in the key Northeast and Midwest heating markets.

The futures markets ended the year on a softer note as the February settled 4.11 cents lower at $6.189 MMBtu on the New York Mercantile Exchange.