NEW YORK: US natural gas futures were little changed on Thursday as forecasts for less demand this week than previously expected offset predictions of more demand next week.
Prices were also not affected by a federal report showing energy firms added an expected, near-normal amount of gas to storage last week after injecting more gas than normal into storage during the prior five weeks.
On its first day as the front-month, gas futures for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 0.5 cents, or 0.1%, from where the July contract closed on Wednesday to $3.562 per million British thermal units at 10:33 a.m. EDT (1433 GMT).
Despite the steady prices, the front-month was still up about 10% from where the June contract expired when it was still the front-month on Wednesday. The front-month was also on track for its highest close since May 13.
The US Energy Information Administration said energy firms added 101 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas into storage during the week ended May 23.
That was close to the 99-bcf build analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and compares with an increase of 84 bcf during the same week last year and a five-year average build of 98 bcf for this time of year.
That increase boosted gas stockpiles to around 4% above the five-year (2020-2024) average.
Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 US states fell to 105.0 billion cubic feet per day so far in May, down from a monthly record of 105.8 bcfd in April.
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