text: Gas Tops $3 as Power Plants Gobble Up Record Amounts of Fuel - Bloomberg
  September 20, 2016, 9:11 AM EDT
  September 20, 2016, 2:58 PM EDT
  'Summer-like' weather boosts demand as nuclear plants refuel
  Prices reach highest level since January 2015 amid higher use
  U.S. natural gas futures surged to more than $3 per million British thermal units for the first time in 16 months as unseasonably warm weather drove generators to burn more of the fuel than ever for this time of year.
  The late-summer surge comes as more of the fuel is being burned to make up for lost power supplies while nuclear reactors and other plants shut for seasonal refueling and maintenance. Gas producers Southwestern Energy Co. and EQT Corp. were Tuesday's best performers among S&P 500 energy stocks.
  The gas market is staging a dramatic comeback from March, when prices hit a 17-year low after a mild winter failed to stoke strong heating demand. America's shale gas producers have scaled back drilling to reduce expenses, while blazing July and August heat helped trim a supply glut by spurring record consumption from power plants.
  "Right now the market looks unusually strong and it doesn't want to back off," said Gene McGillian, manager of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. "We have forecasts for hot weather over the next week and the market continues to catch a bid."
  Natural gas for October delivery surged 11.3 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $3.047 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since January 2015. They're up about 30 percent this year.
  Power-plant demand rebounded after tapering last week with milder weather. Gas deliveries to generators rose to 33.8 billion cubic feet for Tuesday, up 28 percent from the same time last year and a record high for the second half of the month, PointLogic Energy data show. This comes as 23 nuclear units, accounting for about 23 percent of total capacity, are slated to shut for refueling in the three months through November, according to NukeWorker.com.
  Shares of Southwestern Energy rose 2.7 percent to $14.23 at 2:55 p.m. in New York trading after touching $14.47, the highest since Sept. 14. EQT advanced 2.5 percent to $73.01 after earlier climbing to $73.64, the highest in more than a week. Gas accounts for more than 90 percent of EQT's production, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
  Prices are advancing amid "the realization of the tightness of the supply-demand balance," Tom Saal, senior vice president of energy trading at FCStone Latin America LLC, said by phone Tuesday. "We still have some summer-like weather."