NEW YORK: US natural gas futures edged up about 1percent to a two-week high on Monday on rising gas flows to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants and forecasts for warmer weather and higher air conditioning demand over the next two weeks than previously expected.
Front-month gas futures for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 3.1 cents, or 1.0percent, to USD3.264 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), putting the contract on track for its highest close since June 4.
Financial group LSEG said average gas output in the US Lower 48 states held at 109.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in June, the same as May. That compares with a monthly record high of 110.6 bcfd in December 2025.
Analysts said mostly mild weather during the spring allowed energy firms to stockpile more gas than usual. They projected the amount of gas in inventories remained around 5.8percent above normal during the week ended June 19, the same as during the previous week. The federal storage report for last week comes out on Thursday.
Looking ahead, meteorologists forecast the weather will remain mostly warmer than normal through July 7, which should boost the amount of gas power generators burn to keep air conditioners humming. About 40percent of US power generation comes from gas-fired plants.
LSEG projected average gas demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, would rise from 103.4 bcfd this week to 106.6 bcfd next week. Those forecasts were higher than LSEG’s outlook last week.
LNG EXPORTS Average gas flows to the nine big US LNG export plants rose to 17.2 bcfd so far in June, up from 17.1 bcfd in May as liquefaction trains, including at Freeport LNG, exited outages. That compares with a monthly record high of 18.8 bcfd in April. There are currently two LNG vessels going directly from the US to China.
One tanker, the LNG Sakura, left Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s Cove Point LNG export plant in Maryland in mid May and is expected to reach China around June 25, according to LSEG data. The other vessel is on track to reach China in mid-July.
No LNG tanker has left a US export plant and gone directly to China during US President Donald Trump’s second term, which started in January 2025, due primarily to trade disputes between the world’s two biggest economies.
China, which imported a large amount of US gas in the past and has many contracts to buy US LNG, is the world’s biggest gas importer, while the US is the world’s biggest gas producer, consumer and exporter. Chinese companies have bought US LNG and then sold it to buyers in other countries.
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