-- US natural gas futures rose in late trade on Friday, pushing to a three-week high as traders leaned into cooler early-May forecasts and signs of tighter near-term balances.
The front-month Henry Hub contract and the continuous strip both edged up 0.80% to settle at $2.79 per million British thermal units.
The late-session strength reflects a shift in sentiment after prices fell to a 1.5-year low around $2.52/MMBtu the previous week amid bloated storage, Barchart said Friday.
Weather forecasts call for below-normal temperatures across the eastern half of the US through May 10, a pattern that could extend the heating season, lift residential demand, and slow the pace of injections into already elevated inventories.
On Thursday, prices rallied by more than 4% after the US Energy Information Administration reported a 79 billion cubic feet build in inventory for the week, which came in below expectations of 83 Bcf. However, inventories are 8% above the five-year average and 6% higher than a year ago.
Reduced output also lent support. Production averaged about 106.4 Bcf per day over the past week, after weak pricing slowed output. Even so, total US output remains fairly robust at an estimated 109.7 Bcf/d, up 3.1% year over year, BNEF data showed.
Demand improved modestly over the week, averaging roughly 104.2 Bcf/d. NRG said gains were driven by stronger power-sector burn late in the period, while earlier-week softness partially offset the increase. Bloomberg data showed Lower-48 demand at 70.8 Bcf/d on Friday, up 5.6% from a year earlier.
LNG feedgas flows were estimated at 19.1 Bcf/d, down 2.7% week over week, with reduced volumes at Cameron LNG.