(Adds closing prices)
Sept 1 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures fell on Tuesday on forecasts for cooler weather and lower demand for air conditioning, while a drop in liquefied natural gas exports due to the recent storms also weighed on prices.
Front-month gas futures NGc1 fell 10.3 cents, or 3.9%, to settle at $2.527 per million British thermal units.
"Hurricane Laura took out a lot of demand from the Texas-Louisiana border right through the center of the country and it brought some cooler weather behind it," said Robert DiDona of Energy Ventures Analysis.
Refinitiv data indicated 147 cooling degree days (CDDs) in the Lower 48 states over the next two weeks, declining from 151 CDDs in the prior day. CDDs measure the number of degrees a day's average temperature is above 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius) and are used to estimate demand to cool homes and businesses.
Demand in the Lower 48 states is expected to decline as the weather turns cooler, falling from 85.3 bcfd this week to 83.3 bcfd in the next, according to Refinitiv.
A big drop in LNG exports from August levels are also weighing on prices, DiDona said, adding, however, the market will tighten as the LNG facilities come back online again.
Damage to power lines and communications outages from the storm have hurt offshore oil and gas production, with natural gas down by 25%, or 676.55 million cubic feet per day, the U.S. Department of Interior reported on Tuesday. offshore natural gas pipeline that serves four major U.S. Gulf of Mexico production platforms also remained out of commission, Enbridge Inc said.
However, Cheniere Energy, the country's top LNG exporter, and Sempra LNG are expected to resume operations after no major damage was found following Hurricane Laura. output rose to 87.9 bcfd on Monday as many wells in the Gulf resumed operations after Laura, preliminary data from Refinitiv showed. ended
Week ended
Year ago Five-year
Aug 28
Aug 21
Aug 28
average
(Forecast)
(Actual)
Aug 28
U.S. natgas storage (bcf):
+37
+45
+77
+66
Refinitiv 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
18
19
7
18
18 U.S. GFS CDDs
147
151
180
145
135 U.S. GFS TDDs
165
170
187
163
153
Refinitiv U.S. Weekly GFS Supply and Demand Forecasts
Prior Week
Current Week Next Week This Week
Five-Year
Last Year Average For
Month U.S. Supply (bcfd) U.S. Lower 48 Dry Production
87.0
87.1
87.3
92.7
79.1 U.S. Imports from Canada
7.1
6.7
7.2
7.7
8.0 U.S. LNG Imports
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.2 Total U.S. Supply
94.1
93.8
94.5
100.4
87.3
U.S. Demand (bcfd) U.S. Exports to Canada
1.8
2.0
2.1
3.1
2.2 U.S. Exports to Mexico
6.2
6.0
5.9
5.5
4.4 U.S. LNG Exports
3.8
2.9
4.3
6.5
2.0 U.S. Commercial
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.5
4.5 U.S. Residential
3.6
3.7
3.9
3.6
3.3 U.S. Power Plant
42.4
38.1
34.5
33.9
36.6 U.S. Industrial
21.5
21.5
21.7
21.5
20.6 U.S. Plant Fuel
4.3
4.3
4.3
4.3
4.3 U.S. Pipe Distribution
2.1
2.0
1.9
2.1
2.0 U.S. Vehicle Fuel
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1 Total U.S. Consumption
78.5
74.4
71.1
70.0
71.4 Total U.S. Demand
90.5
85.3
83.3
85.1
80.0
SNL U.S. Natural Gas Next-Day Prices ($ per mmBtu)
Hub
Current Day
Prior Day
Henry Hub NG-W-HH-SNL
2.30
2.46
Transco Z6 New York NG-CG-NY-SNL
1.30
1.07
PG&E Citygate NG-CG-PGE-SNL
3.52
3.54
Dominion South NG-PCN-APP-SNL
1.25
1.04
Chicago Citygate NG-CG-CH-SNL
2.07
2.17
Algonquin Citygate NG-CG-BS-SNL
1.33
1.22
SoCal Citygate NG-SCL-CGT-SNL
3.17
3.79
Waha Hub NG-WAH-WTX-SNL
1.61
1.36
SNL U.S. Power Next-Day Prices ($ per megawatt-hour)
Hub
Current Day
Prior Day
New England EL-PK-NPMS-SNL
20.50
28.25
PJM West EL-PK-PJMW-SNL
25.50
29.50
Ercot North EL-PK-ERTN-SNL
29.00
60.50
Mid C EL-PK-MIDC-SNL
43.29
32.33
Palo Verde EL-PK-PLVD-SNL
40.50
42.50
SP-15 EL-PK-SP15-SNL
40.00
41.50