NEW YORK: US natural gas futures edged up about 1 percent to a fresh three-week high on Monday on a drop in output over the past month.
Front-month gas futures for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 3.4 cents, or 1.2 percent, to USD2.814 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), putting the contract on track for its highest close since April 7 for a third day in a row.
That also put the front-month up for a sixth day in a row for the first time since mid-April. In the cash market, average prices at the Waha Hub in West Texas have remained in negative territory for a record 61 days in a row as pipeline constraints trap gas in the Permian region, the nation’s biggest oil-producing shale basin.
Daily Waha prices first averaged below zero in 2019. They did so 17 times in 2019, six times in 2020, once in 2023, 49 times in 2024, 39 times in 2025, and a record 70 times so far this year.
Waha prices have averaged a negative USD2.20 per mmBtu so far in 2026, compared with a positive USD1.15 in 2025 and a positive USD2.88 over the past five years (2021 to 2025).
Financial group LSEG said average gas output in the US Lower 48 states fell to 109.0 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in May, down from 109.5 bcfd in April and a monthly record high of 110.6 bcfd in December 2025.
Output has declined over the past couple of months due in part to low spot prices, which prompted energy firms like EQT, the second-largest US gas producer, to temporarily reduce production as they wait for prices to rise later in the year.
Analysts said mostly mild weather earlier this spring allowed energy firms to inject more gas into storage than usual. They noted, however, that recent output declines coupled with cooler weather and higher demand likely reduced the inventory surplus to around 7 percent above normal during the week ended May 1, down from 8 percent above during the week ended April 24.
Looking ahead, meteorologists forecast the weather will remain mostly near normal through May 19.
LSEG projected average gas demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, would hold near 99.3 bcfd this week and next. The forecast for this week was lower than LSEG’s outlook on Friday.
Average gas flows to the nine big US liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants fell to 17.4 bcfd so far in May, down from a monthly record of 18.8 bcfd in April.