Washington (Platts)--7Feb2013/611 pm EST/2311 GMT

NYMEX March natural gas futures settled 13.3 cents lower at $3.285/MMBtu Thursday primarily on a storage draw that came in below analyst estimates.

"Despite colder-than-normal conditions across basically the entire US on the updated 8-14 day [forecast], the bears are still refusing to hibernate for now," Schneider Electric analyst Matt Smith said.

The Energy Information Administration earlier Thursday reported a storage draw of 118 Bcf, compared with expectations for a pull between 122-126 Bcf.

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Despite the coming winter storm in the Northeast, sources said the market also moved lower on expectations the storm would actually decrease heating demand in commercial properties if people don't go to work.

Adding to the bearish sentiment is the calendar.

"We are running out of potential cold days," a Washington-based broker said, adding market sentiment is "neutral-to-bearish at the moment."

At this point in winter, "utilities were allowed to sell off extra gas from their inventories, as they don't need that extra buffer," the broker said.

The March contract traded between $3.282-$3.453/MMBtu Thursday.

--Anastasia Gnezditskaia, ana_gnezditskaia@platts.com
--Edited by Kevin Saville, kevin_saville@platts.com

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