NEW YORK: US natural gas futures climbed about 4% to a 13-month high on Thursday on lower output in recent days and an increase in the amount of gas flowing to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants to an 11-month high.

That price increase also came ahead of a federal report expected to show utilities pulled a bigger-than-usual 126 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas out of storage during the week ended Dec. 13. That compares with a decrease of 92 bcf during the same week last year and a five-year average draw of 78 bcf for this time of year.

Analysts, however, projected rising output so far this month and forecasts for mild weather and low heating demand through the start of the new year should keep storage withdrawals smaller than normal in coming weeks. There was currently about 4% more gas in storage than usual for this time of year.

Front-month gas futures for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 12 cents, or 3.6%, to $3.494 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at 9:10 a.m. EST (1410 GMT), putting the contract on track for its highest close since November 2023.

With the front-month up about 9% over the past three days, the premium of futures for January over February jumped to a record high of 28 cents per mmBtu.

Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 US states rose to 103.0 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in December, up from 101.5 bcfd in November.