NEW YORK: US natural gas futures edged higher on Tuesday as winter storms across the country curtailed gas output over the weekend off-setting pressure from forecasts for less cold weather and lower demand over the next two weeks.

Front-month gas futures rose 3.1 cents, or 0.6%, to $5.110 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at 10:15 a.m. EST (1513 GMT). The contract lost 23% last week.

“Gas edging higher on storm related supply issues but short-term temperature outlooks still bearish,” analysts at energy consulting firm Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note.

“The volatility in the weather forecasts is, of course, prompting major swings in gas pricing with the market more focused on the imminent warm-up than on last week’s extreme cold.”

Data provider Refinitiv showed average gas output in the US Lower 48 states fell to 80.4 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) on Saturday, its biggest drop in daily output since the February freeze of 2021 when a winter storm froze gas supplies in Texas and forced that state’s electric grid operator to impose rolling power outages.