US natural gas futures edged up on Tuesday despite forecasts for a little less demand over the next two weeks than earlier expected.
On its second to last day as the front-month, gas futures for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 2.0 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $1.847 per million British thermal units (mmBtu).
The April contract, which will soon be the front-month, gained less than a penny to $1.851 per mmBtu.
Since hitting an eight-month high of $2.905 per mmBtu in early November, gas futures have collapsed 36% as record production and mild winter weather enabled utilities to leave more gas in storage, making shortages and price spikes unlikely.
Meteorologists projected weather in the Lower 48 US states will remain mostly near-normal over the next two weeks except for a few colder-than-normal days from February 27-March 1. That is similar to Monday's outlook.
Refinitiv, a data provider, projected average demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, would ease from 117.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) this week to 115.5 bcfd next week. That is lower than Monday's projections of 117.7 bcfd this week and 118.3 bcfd next week.
The amount of gas flowing to US liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants edged up to 9.0 bcfd on Monday from 8.8 bcfd on Sunday, according to Refinitiv. That compares with an average of 8.5 bcfd last week and an all-time daily high of 9.5 bcfd on January 31.
Gas traders have been watching flows to US LNG export plants for declines after some analysts projected US export facilities could reduce output this summer if low gas prices in Europe and Asia make it uneconomic for buyers to lift cargoes.
Cheniere Energy Inc, the biggest US LNG supplier, however, said it does not expect customer cancellations to cause significant or prolonged curtailments of LNG production. The company said customers canceled just two of the roughly 40 cargoes it expects to deliver in April.
Gas prices in Europe and Asia remained near all-time lows hit as the coronavirus cut gas demand in China.
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