NEW YORK: US natural gas futures eased about 1% to a three-week low on Friday on forecasts for milder weather over the next two weeks than previously expected, ample gas in storage and expectations gas flows to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants would remain low through May due to outages at Freeport LNG’s plant in Texas.

Freeport LNG said it anticipates two of the three liquefaction trains at its export plant will remain out of service for testing and repairs through May.

Front-month gas futures for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 1.7 cents, or 1.0%, to $1.666 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at 9:05 a.m EDT (1305 GMT), putting the contract on track for its lowest close since Feb. 27.

For the week, however, the contract was still up about 1% after falling about 8% last week. Energy traders said futures prices gained support earlier in the week from a continued drop in US output after gas prices collapsed to a 3-1/2-year low in February. Prices fell as low as $1.511 per mmBtu on Feb. 27, their lowest since June 2020, as near-record output, mostly mild weather and low heating demand this winter allowed utilities to leave significantly more gas in storage than usual for this time of year.