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US Natural Gas Update: Futures Rise Despite Bearish Storage Injection, Milder Weather Forecasts

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US natural gas futures were up on Friday, despite the larger-than-expected net build in storage and milder near-term weather forecasts.

The front-month Henry Hub contract and the continuous contract both rose 1.55% to settle at $2.681 per million British thermal units.

The US Energy Information Administration released its Weekly Gas Storage Supplement on Thursday, reporting a net injection of 33 billion cubic feet of working gas into storage, bringing total gas inventories to 3,117 Bcf, for the week ended July 31.

This was ahead of forecasts of 30 Bcf, the prior week's 27 Bcf, the prior year's 13 Bcf, and the five-year average for this period of 23 Bcf, according to data compiled by Investing.com, indicating a broadly bearish trend.

Meanwhile, weather forecasts continued to turn milder, with Northern and Eastern parts of the country set to see near-normal temperatures, while the Northeast was expected to report below-normal temperatures from August 14 through August 20, according to the National Weather Service.

According to Pinebrook Energy Advisors, temperature forecasts "are largely unsupportive" besides a brief heatwave that is set to last "over the next five days."

US LNG Feedgas flows are forecasted to edge higher on Friday, at 18.62 Bcf, significantly above the 30-day moving average of 17.90 Bcf, according to the Bloomberg LNG Feedgas Model.

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