US natural gas prices steady

NEW YORK: US natural gas futures held steady on Friday as near-record output and lagging flows to liquefied natural gas export plants offset forecasts for near-record heat early next week. That heat should cause power generators to burn more gas to meet soaring air conditioning demand, which will likely stress regional power systems.

Front-month gas futures for August delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange were up 1.2 cents, or 0.4%, to $3.106 per million British thermal units at 12:46 p.m. EDT (1646 GMT).

That small increase pushed the contract out of technically oversold territory for the first time in three days. Prices, however, were still down about 13% this week after gaining about 8% last week.