NEW YORK: US natural gas futures slid about 2% on Tuesday to a 10-week low as Hurricane Ian advanced toward Florida and on forecasts for milder weather over the next two weeks that will likely cut gas demand and allow utilities to inject more fuel into storage.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) projected Ian, after battering Cuba, would cross the Gulf of Mexico and slam into southwest Florida on Wednesday as a major storm with winds of up to 120 miles (193 kilometers) per hour.

With most of the nation’s gas production located away from the Gulf of Mexico in shale basins like the Permian in West Texas, analysts said tropical storms were more demand-destroying events, since they knock out power and can cause liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals to shut.

Only about 2% of US gas production comes from the federal offshore Gulf of Mexico.