NEW YORK: U.S. natural gas output fell to a preliminary 11-month low on Sunday as frigid weather froze wells across the country, while gas demand for heating and power generation was on track to hit record highs.

In Texas the state’s power grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), forecast electric demand on Tuesday would top last summer’s all-time high and warned power supplies could fall short on both Monday and Tuesday.

ERCOT on Sunday issued an appeal to the public calling for energy conservation from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. CT (1200-1600 GMT) on Monday.

The operator asked Texas government agencies to implement all programs to reduce energy use at their facilities during that time.

“Operating reserves are expected to be low Monday morning due to continued freezing temperatures, record-breaking demand, unseasonably low wind,” the grid operator said in a statement.

The drop in U.S. gas availability so far this week was the most in over a year, with supplies on track to fall by around 9.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) from Jan. 8-14 to an estimated 11-month low of 98.6 bcfd on Jan. 14, according to data from financial firm LSEG.

That decline so far was small compared with gas supply losses of around 19.6 bcfd during Winter Storm Elliott in December 2022, and 20.4 bcfd during the February freeze of 2021.