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US Natural Gas Update: Futures Gain Amid Conflicting Weather Forecasts

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US natural gas futures ticked higher in choppy midday trading Wednesday, as slower LNG consumption, linked to planned maintenance schedules, helped to offset mixed US weather-driven demand signals.

Front-month and continuous Henry Hub contracts both rose 0.98% to $2.871 per million British thermal units.

Trading was volatile through the early session, with prices ranging from $2.813/MMBtu to $2.927/MMBtu and reflecting weakening northern heating demand offset by rising southern cooling load as temperatures shift into early summer.

Gelber & Associates said residential and commercial consumption continues to soften, but strengthening power-sector burn tied to early cooling demand is beginning to provide offsetting support as weather outlooks continue to lean warmer across the central and eastern US into late May.

For the Thursday weekly storage report, Gelber & Associates estimates an injection of about 83 billion cubic feet, while NRG Energy projects roughly 86 Bcf, underscoring looser fundamentals heading into peak injection season.

NRG noted storage remains on track to approach roughly 3.9 trillion cubic feet ahead of winter.

On the export side, LNG feedgas flows declined overnight to 109 Bcf per day due to maintenance and operational variability across several Gulf Coast export facilities, including lower volumes at Freeport LNG, Plaquemines LNG, and Golden Pass LNG, Gelber & Associates said.

Those declines were partially offset by recovering throughput at Corpus Christi LNG as maintenance activity winds down.

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