NEW YORK: US natural gas futures slipped on Friday and posted a weekly loss of nearly 7%, weighed down by forecasts for warmer-than-normal weather and lower heating demand over the next two weeks than previously expected.
Front-month gas futures for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange settled down 0.7 cent, or 0.2% lower at $4.1 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). The contract is down 6.6% for this week.
“We’re not seeing any change on the supply side, there was some tariff news this week but supply has been pretty steady. The real big swing here has just been from the demand side, and that’s largely due to weather model moderation,” said Robert DiDona, president of Energy Ventures Analysis.
Financial firm LSEG estimated there would be 185 heating degree days over the next two weeks in the Lower 48 US states, down from the 205 HDDs estimated on Thursday. The normal level is 254 HDDs for this time of year.
LSEG has forecast that average gas demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, will slightly rise from 106.3 billion cubic feet per day this week to 107.8 bcfd next week.
LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 US states has risen to 105.7 bcfd so far in March, up from a record 105.1 bcfd in February. The amount of gas flowing to the eight big US liquefied natural gas export plants has risen to an average of 15.6 bcfd so far in March, matching the record high hit in February.
Gas prices rose more than 14% last week on record flows to LNG plants and worries Canada would reduce power and gas exports to the US after President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico on March 4.
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