2023-04-17 16:56:16 ET
U.S. natural gas futures surged nearly 8% to a three-week high Monday following forecasts for cooler weather and more heating demand over the next two weeks than previously expected.
Prices also rose as the amount of gas flowing to U.S. liquefied natural gas export plants remained on track to hit a record high for a second straight month in April.
Front-month Nymex natural gas ( NG1:COM ) for May delivery finished +7.6% to $2.275/MMBtu, its best settlement since March 21 and close to topping its 50-day moving average for the first time since mid-December.
ETFs: ( NYSEARCA: UNG ), ( UGAZF ), ( BOIL ), ( KOLD ), ( UNL ), ( FCG )
But stocks of natural gas producers ended mostly lower, including EQT Corp. ( EQT ) -1% , Range Resources ( RRC ) -1.6% , Antero Resources ( AR ) -1.4% , Coterra Energy ( CTRA ) -0.3% .
Meteorologists forecast the weather in the Lower 48 states will remain mostly cooler than normal in the April 17-25 period before turning near normal during April 26-May 2, prompting Refinitiv to predict U.S. gas demand including exports will rise to 94.8B cf/day next week from 94.1B cf/day this week.
Also, average gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants rose to 14B cf/day so far in April, up from a record 13.2B cf/day in March.
Natural gas ( UNG ) still faces significant contango risk, but prices are so low today that a bullish position may be worth taking, Harrison Schwartz writes in an analysis published recently on Seeking Alpha .
For further details see:
U.S. natural gas rallies 8% on cooler forecasts, record LNG feedgas