NEW YORK: US natural gas futures jumped about 5% to a 16-week high on Friday with an increase in the amount of feedgas to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants due to the expected return of Freeport LNG’s export plant in Texas to full service after a brief reduction.

For the week, gas futures were up about 17% after gaining 5% last week and a record 33% two weeks ago. Those increases have put gas prices into positive territory for the year for the first time since late January. Gas futures are currently up about 4% so far in 2024 after collapsing by 44% last year.

Front-month gas futures for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 13.1 cents, or 5.3%, to settle at $2.626 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their highest close since Jan. 26 for a second day in a row.

That kept the front-month in technically overbought territory for an 11th straight day for the first time since April 2022.

Looking ahead, analysts at Barclays, a bank, said in a report that gas use for power generation in the US is likely to grow 10 bcfd by 2030 on Artificial Intelligence (AI) growth, transition-related demand, on-shoring of manufacturing and slowing efficiency gains.

In other news, more than 890,000 homes and businesses in Texas, Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states were still without power on Friday after killer storms battered the region on Thursday.

Power use in Texas will likely break records for the month of May next week as homes and businesses crank up their air conditioners to escape a spring heat wave.

Financial firm LSEG said gas output in the Lower 48 US states fell to an average of 97.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in May, down from 98.2 bcfd in April. That compares with a monthly record high of 105.5 bcfd in December 2023. On a daily basis, output was on track to drop by around 1.7 bcfd over the past five days to a preliminary 96.5 bcfd on Friday.