NEW YORK: US natural gas futures rose more than 3percent on Wednesday as global energy prices climbed, with traders closely monitoring the Middle East conflict to gauge supply disruptions and its impact on the market.
Front-month gas futures for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange traded 10.4 cents higher, or 3.4percent, to USD3.12 per million British thermal units at 10:40 a.m. ET. Prices had risen to a more than one-month high on Monday. “In the medium term, we see support from increasing domestic demand for data-centre power generation, heating/cooling and export demand for LNG, which should ramp up in the coming months with the first cargoes from Golden Pass LNG,” analysts at Standard Chartered said in a note.
“European gas prices have been much more sensitive to US-Iran developments, although we still expect Europe to source its gas predominantly from the US this summer to replenish tight storage inventories.”
US prices have moved in response to the Iran war, but not nearly as sharply as in Europe or Asia. The US produces enough gas to cover its own demand, limiting the domestic shock. However, it has little spare capacity to quickly lift output of LNG and offset lost supply after Qatar halted production due to the conflict in the Middle East, according to Reuters calculations and industry analysts. Since the US and Israel started air strikes on Iran on February 28 , US gas prices have gained about 9percent versus around 52percent in Europe and 48percent in Asia.
Average gas output in the US Lower 48 states rose marginally to 109.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in March, up from 109.2 bcfd in February, according to data from financial firm LSEG. That compares with a monthly record high of 110.6 bcfd in December 2025.
US energy firms likely pulled an above-normal 121 billion cubic feet of natural gas from storage in the week ended February 27, according to the average estimate in a Reuters poll released last week.
LSEG projected average gas demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, would jump from 111.8 bcfd this week to 124.9 bcfd next week. The forecast for this week was higher than LSEG’s outlook on Monday.
Average gas flows to the nine big US LNG export plants slipped to 18.2 bcfd so far in March, down from a record 18.7 bcfd in February.
Benchmark European and British wholesale gas prices rose on Wednesday morning after reports of Iran laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz raised concerns over LNG supply.
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