NEW YORK: US natural gas futures jumped about 5% to a 14-week high on Friday as Hurricane Helene battered the US Southeast after causing Gulf of Mexico producers to cut output and knocking out power to millions of customers in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Energy traders also noted that prices were supported as the amount of gas flowing to Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG export plant in Louisiana was on track to match a high of around 35 million cubic feet per day that it hit in mid-August. That is still a very small amount of gas. The first phase of the Plaquemines project will have the capacity to turn about 1.8 billion cubic feet per day of gas into LNG.

Analysts have said the plant could start producing LNG in test mode over the next month or so. Officials at Venture Global were not immediately available for comment.

On its first day as the front-month, gas futures for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 12.9 cents, or 4.7%, from where they traded on Thursday to $2.882 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at 10:27 a.m. EDT (1427 GMT) on Friday, putting the contract on track for its highest close since June 18.

That, however, was up about 11% from where the less expensive October contract closed when it was still the front-month on Thursday. That expiration-caused price increase pushed the front-month back into technically overbought territory for the third time this week after hitting that level on Monday and Wednesday.