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US Natural Gas Update: Futures Edge Higher Amid Bullish Gas Storage Report

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US natural gas futures were up on Friday, amid a bullish lower-than-expected injection into storage and stronger natural gas-fired power generation.

The front-month Henry Hub contract and the continuous contract were both up 1.85% at $2.911 per million British thermal units. US natural gas prices were set to end the week down by 1.36%, according to data from Trading Economics.

On Thursday, the US Energy Information Administration's Weekly Natural Gas Storage Supplement reported a net injection of 41 billion cubic feet of working gas into storage for the week ending July 10, bringing total working gas inventories to 3,024 Bcf.

This was below forecasts, which estimated a net injection of 45 Bcf into storage, compared with the prior year's figure for the same week of 47 Bcf and the five-year average for this period of 45 Bcf, according to data compiled by Investing.com.

According to Pinebrook Energy Advisors, this lighter-than-expected storage build was largely driven by higher natural gas-driven power generation, due to a sharp drop in wind output during the reporting week.

Meanwhile, gas output continued to decline during the week to 107.2 Bcf per day, down 1.3 Bcf/d from last Friday, lending additional support to prices, according to NRG Energy.

LNG export feedgas flows remained under pressure, estimated at 18.14 Bcf on Friday, compared to the 30-day moving average of 18.60 Bcf, according to the Bloomberg LNG Feedgas Model.

This was primarily due to the Freeport LNG facility going under maintenance, which is expected to last until late August.

Weather forecasts have started to turn bearish, with northeastern regions of the country expected to see normal or below-normal temperatures from July 24 through July 30, according to the National Weather Service.

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