March 14 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures extended gains on Thursday, having hit their lowest level in over two weeks earlier in the session, after a weekly report showed a bigger-than-expected storage withdrawal last week. Front-month gas futures for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 2.4 cents, or 1.5%, to $1.682 per million British thermal units at 11:31 a.m. EDT (1531 GMT). The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities pulled a larger-than-expected 9 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas out of storage during the week ended March 8. That was more than the 3-bcf withdrawal analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and compares with a withdrawal of 65 bcf during the same week a year ago and a five-year (2019-2023) average decrease of 87 bcf for this time of year. That decrease left gas stockpiles about 37% above normal levels for this time of year. The EIA report showed "a bigger withdrawal than expected, but it is still a small withdrawal compared to historical averages... it is not really a bullish number," said Thomas Saal, senior vice president for energy at StoneX Financial. "The weather's been very mild for even for this time of year and there are some expectations for a little bit of a cold front to come through, so that might help the market," he added. Prices fell as low as $1.511 per mmBtu on Feb. 27, their lowest level since June 2020, as near-record output, mostly mild weather and low heating demand this winter allowed utilities to leave significantly more gas in storage than usual for this time of year. Those low prices will boost U.S. gas use to a record high in 2024, but cause gas production to drop for the first year since 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed demand for the fuel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) latest outlook . Financial firm LSEG said gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states fell to an average of 100.3 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in March, down from 104.1 bcfd in February. That compares with a monthly record of 105.5 bcfd in December 2023. Output is down as several energy firms, including and Chesapeake Energy, delay well completions and cut back on other drilling activities. EQT is currently the biggest U.S. gas producer and Chesapeake will soon become the biggest producer after its merger with Southwestern Energy. LSEG forecast gas demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, would rise from 109.2 bcfd this week to 111.4 bcfd next week. Those forecasts were lower than LSEG's outlook on Wednesday. Week ended Year ago Five-year Week ended Mar 1 Mar 8 average Mar 8 Actual Actual Mar 8 U.S. weekly natgas storage change (bcf): -9 -40 -65 -87 U.S. total natgas in storage (bcf): 2,325 2,334 1,989 1,696 U.S. total storage versus 5-year average 37.1% 30.9% Global Gas Benchmark Futures ($ per mmBtu) Current Day Prior Day This Month Prior Year Five Year Last Year Average Average 2023 (2018-2022) Henry Hub 2.41 2.66 3.60 1.65 1.67 Title Transfer Facility (TTF) 13.72 13.04 14.39 8.00 7.91 Japan Korea Marker (JKM) 13.59 14.39 14.31 8.48 8.47 LSEG Heating (HDD), Cooling (CDD) and Total (TDD) Degree Days Two-Week Total Forecast Current Day Prior Day Prior Year 10-Year 30-Year Norm Norm U.S. GFS HDDs 235 236 291 303 307 U.S. GFS CDDs 13 12 17 11 9 U.S. GFS TDDs 248 248 308 314 316 LSEG U.S. Weekly GFS Supply and Demand Forecasts Prior Week Current Next Week This Week Five-Year Week Last Year (2019-2023) Average For Month U.S. Supply (bcfd) U.S. Lower 48 Dry Production 101.7 95.1 100.3 100.3 100.6 U.S. Imports from Canada 8.6 8.4 7.3 7.6 7.9 U.S. LNG Imports 0.0 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 Total U.S. Supply 110.3 103.6 107.6 107.8 108.5 U.S. Demand (bcfd) U.S. Exports to Canada 2.7 3.0 3.7 3.8 3.8 U.S. Exports to Mexico 5.2 5.4 6.6 6.5 6.4 U.S. LNG Exports 13.2 9.2 13.4 13.1 12.6 U.S. Commercial 14.3 12.3 10.5 10.4 11.0 U.S. Residential 22.8 19.4 15.8 15.1 16.0 U.S. Power Plant 30.4 23.8 30.6 29.3 30.0 U.S. Industrial 24.1 26.8 23.5 23.6 24.2 U.S. Plant Fuel 4.9 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 U.S. Pipe Distribution 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.4 U.S. Vehicle Fuel 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 Total U.S. Consumption 98.9 89.7 87.8 85.8 88.7 Total U.S. Demand 120.0 107.3 111.6 109.2 111.4 U.S. weekly power generation percent by fuel - EIA Week ended Week ended Week ended Week ended Week ended Mar 15 Mar 8 Mar 1 Feb 23 Feb 16 Wind 15 16 13 11 15 Solar 4 4 4 4 5 Hydro 7 7 7 7 8 Other 1 1 1 1 1 Petroleum 0 0 0 0 0 Natural Gas 39 38 40 41 38 Coal 13 16 15 16 12 Nuclear 21 21 20 21 21 SNL U.S. Natural Gas Next-Day Prices ($ per mmBtu) Hub Current Day Prior Day Henry Hub1.25 1.57 Transco Z6 New York 1.09 1.27 PG&E Citygate 2.41 2.34 Eastern Gas (old Dominion South) 1.02 1.24 Chicago Citygate 1.18 1.29 Algonquin Citygate 1.20 1.35 SoCal Citygate 1.77 1.91 Waha Hub 1.09 0.20 AECO 1.52 1.20 SNL U.S. Power Next-Day Prices ($ per megawatt-hour) Hub Current Day Prior Day New England 21.25 24.00 PJM West 18.75 25.50 Ercot North 32.75 16.50 Mid C 37.69 40.29 Palo Verde 8.50 3.75 SP-15 6.25 2.25 (Reporting by Daksh Grover in Bengaluru Editing by Marguerita Choy)
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