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US Natural Gas Update: Futures Soar Over 5% After Weather Forecasts Turn Bullish

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US natural gas futures rallied on Monday, rebounding after a five-week slide, as weather models turned bullish over the weekend.

The front-month Henry Hub contract and the continuous contract both rose 5.11% to $2.798 per million British thermal units.

After a week of milder forecasts, above-normal temperatures were projected across nearly the entire country from Aug 17 through Aug 23, with the exception of parts of the Northeast, which are set to experience below-normal temperatures, according to the National Weather Service.

Meanwhile, natural gas output edged higher over the weekend to 109.1 billion cubic feet per day, up 1.3 Bcf/d from Thursday, while domestic and export demand declined by 1.4 Bcf/d and 1.5 Bcf/d, respectively, according to NRG Energy.

LNG feedgas flows were expected to edge higher at 18.77 Bcf/d on Monday, above the 30-day moving average of 17.92, according to estimates from the Bloomberg LNG Feedgas Model.

The Freeport LNG facility has been offline for about a month for scheduled maintenance that was expected to run through early August. A return to service over the next few days could provide a further boost to LNG export feedgas demand.

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