NEW YORK: US natural gas futures edged up about 1% on Thursday on forecasts calling for cooler weather in mid February that should boost heating demand.

That price increase came despite forecasts for milder weather and lower demand next week than previously expected, and ahead of a federal storage report expected to show a massive withdrawal during extreme cold last week.

Analysts projected utilities pulled 314 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas out of storage during the week ended Jan. 24.

That compares with a drop of 234 bcf during the same week last year and a five-year average draw of 189 bcf for this time of year.

If correct, that would only be the fourth time utilities pulled over 300 bcf of gas out of storage in a week, but would fall short of the record 359 bcf withdrawn during a freezing week in January 2018.

Analysts noted last week’s decline should erase the small surplus of gas still in storage over the five-year average for the first time since January 2022, and could boost total withdrawals for the month to a record high.

The current record monthly storage withdrawal is 994 bcf in January 2022, according to federal energy data.

On its first day as the front-month, gas futures for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 3.6 cents, or 1.1%, from where that contract closed on Wednesday to $3.206 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at 8:04 a.m. EST (1304 GMT).

The contract, however, was still on track to settle at its lowest since Dec. 10 because the new March front-month was still down about 10% from where the higher-priced February contract expired on Wednesday when it was still the front-month.