NEW YORK: US natural gas futures fell about 2% on Tuesday on forecasts for lower demand this week than previously expected on reduced amounts of gas flowing to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants due to ongoing repairs at Freeport LNG’s export plant in Texas and reductions at other plants.

That price decline came despite a drop in output in recent weeks after gas prices fell to 3-1/2-year lows in both February and March due to ample amounts of fuel in storage and months of mostly mild weather.

Front-month gas futures for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 3.1 cents, or 1.7%, to $1.806 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at 9:42 a.m. EDT (1342 GMT). On Monday, the contract closed at its highest since March 6.

A lack of rapid price moves in recent weeks cut the front-month’s 30-day implied volatility to 54.1%, its lowest since March 2022.

The market uses implied volatility to estimate likely price changes in the future.