-- US natural gas futures were up on Monday, supported by a smaller-than-expected injection into storage, lower output and bullish weather forecasts.
The front-month Henry Hub contract and the continuous strip both edged up 1.26% to settle at $2.81 per million British thermal units.
This comes following the US Energy Information Administration's Weekly Storage Report showing a net injection of 79 billion cubic feet into storage for the week ended April 24, down from 103 Bcf the prior week, and falling short of forecasts of 83 Bcf, according to data compiled by Investing.com.
At the same time, production has dropped over the past week by 2 Bcf per day, dropping to a 12-week low of 107.6 Bcf per day, according to TradingEconomics.
US LNG feedgas deliveries are near-record levels, but have edged lower at 18.03 Bcf per day, according to estimates by the Bloomberg LNG Feedgas Model, compared to the 30-day moving average at 19.48 Bcf.
Nearly two-thirds of the country is expected to see above-normal temperatures from May 11 to May 17, compared to below-normal temperatures in recent weeks, according to the National Weather Service.
According to NRG Energy, this could turn bullish, as a warm West and Midwest during this period often translates into higher early-summer cooling demand.