NEW YORK: US natural gas futures on Friday slipped to a 10-month low on forecasts for warmer weather, yet the year’s hot-commodity was poised for its third consecutive annual rise as supply disruptions due to Russia-Ukraine war sent tremors across global gas markets. The contract has added about 20% so far in what has been tipped as the most volatile year for the commodity, having surpassed the $10 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) level for the first time in 14 years.

Prices halved since the, however, and are trading around $4.390/mmBtu, down 17 cents, or 3.8% as of 10:39 a.m. EDT, pressured by record high US output and milder weather reducing demand for heating. The contract hit its lowest since March 1 and was on track for the worst quarterly loss in a year.

“With warmer than normal weather ahead of us, I believe the draws for the next several weeks are going to be much lower than the five year average, especially for the first week of January,” said Zhen? Zhu, managing consultant at CH Guernsey and Co in Oklahoma City, who expects prices to continue to be soft unless there is “some serious cold.”