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US Natural Gas Update: Futures Down Nearly 2% Amid Weak Demand, Milder Weather Forecasts

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US natural gas futures edged lower on Thursday, reaching their lowest level in three months, as expectations of weaker demand and milder weather forecasts weighed on prices ahead of the weekly storage report.

The front-month Henry Hub contract and continuous contract both lost 1.71% to trade at $2.643 per million British thermal units.

Total natural gas demand remained largely unchanged, rising just 0.4 billion cubic feet per day from Wednesday, while output held steady at 107.8 Bcf/d, according to NRG Energy.

Meanwhile, near-term weather forecasts are starting to moderate, with Northeastern parts of the country expected to see below-normal temperatures from August 13 through 19, according to the National Weather Service, leading to lower space cooling demand and gas-fired power burn.

This comes ahead of the US Energy Information Administration's Weekly Natural Gas Storage Supplement, with forecasts expecting a 30 Bcf net injection into storage, compared to 28 Bcf the prior week and 7 Bcf during the same period last year, according to data compiled by Investing.com.

LNG export feedgas flows continued to edge higher at 18.45 Bcf on Thursday, above the 30-day moving average of 17.90 Bcf, according to Bloomberg's LNG Feedgas Model.

Flows were still significantly below the peaks of 20 Bcf/d in April this year, amid the Freeport LNG facility going into scheduled maintenance early last month, and are set to last through early August.

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