US natural gas futures rose more than 3% to above $3.25/MMBtu, recovering from a 12-week low of $3.169 last week, as new weather forecasts showed colder conditions developing across much of the country. While demand is expected to stay weak for the next few days, colder weather systems are forecast to arrive soon, which should increase heating needs. Some forecasts slightly reduced how cold it may get, but the overall outlook still points to stronger demand ahead. At the same time, exports of natural gas remain very strong. Shipments to overseas buyers are near record levels, averaging about 18.5 billion cubic feet per day in January. US gas production has dipped a bit from December’s all-time high, easing to around 109.2 billion cubic feet per day. In addition, the latest storage report showed a larger-than-usual drop in supplies, with 114 billion cubic feet withdrawn last week.
