(Adds latest prices)
Sept 9 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures held steady on Wednesday as rising production and forecasts for lower air conditioning demand in late September offset a jump in liquefied natural gas exports and record sales to Mexico.
After dropping over 7% on Tuesday, front-month gas futures NGc1 rose 0.6 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $2.406 per million British thermal units on Wednesday.
Data provider Refinitiv said output in the Lower 48 U.S. states was on track to rise to 87.9 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in September, up from a three-month low of 87.6 bcfd in August. That, however, was still well below November's all-time monthly high of 95.4 bcfd.
With exports rising and expectations for warm weather through mid September, Refinitiv projected U.S. demand would rise from an average of 84.0 bcfd this week to 85.8 bcfd next week. That is higher than Tuesday's forecast.
In late September, however, demand is expected to decline as air conditioning use drops with the weather forecast to turn seasonably cooler.
The amount of gas flowing to U.S. LNG export terminals soared by a record 1.8 bcfd on Tuesday as Cheniere Energy Inc 's LNG.A Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana continues to ramp up after shutting in late August for Hurricane Laura. Average flows so far in September were 4.1 bcfd. puts gas piped to LNG plants on track to rise for a second month in a row in September for the first time since February when average flows hit a record 8.7 bcfd. Coronavirus demand destruction caused U.S. LNG exports to drop every month from March to July when flows to plants fell to a 21-month low of just 3.3 bcfd as buyers canceled cargoes.
U.S. pipeline exports to Mexico, meanwhile, were on track to rise to 6.1 bcfd in September, which would top August's 5.9-bcfd record.
Week ended
Week ended
Year ago Five-year
Sep 4
Aug 28
Sep 4
average
(Forecast)
(Actual)
Sep 4
U.S. natgas storage (bcf):
+68
+35
+80
+68
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
31
26
10
24
33 U.S. GFS CDDs
120
124
164
130
110 U.S. GFS TDDs
151
150
174
154
143
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
88.3
88.4
93.2
79.7 U.S. Imports from Canada
6.3
5.7
6.6
7.8
7.9 U.S. LNG Imports
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.1 Total U.S. Supply
93.3
94.0
95.1
101.0
87.7
U.S. Demand (bcfd) U.S. Exports to Canada
2.0
2.1
2.1
2.4
2.3 U.S. Exports to Mexico
6.2
6.0
6.0
5.4
4.5 U.S. LNG Exports
2.9
4.8
6.5
5.9
2.1 U.S. Commercial
4.6
4.8
4.8
4.7
4.7 U.S. Residential
3.7
3.9
4.0
3.8
3.7 U.S. Power Plant
38.1
34.4
34.5
37.5
32.0 U.S. Industrial
21.5
21.6
21.4
21.2
20.6 U.S. Plant Fuel
4.3
4.4
4.4
4.4
4.4 U.S. Pipe Distribution
2.0
1.9
1.9
1.9
1.9 U.S. Vehicle Fuel
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1 Total U.S. Consumption
74.3
71.1
71.2
73.6
67.4 Total U.S. Demand
85.4
84.0
85.8
87.3
76.3
SNL U.S. Natural Gas Next-Day Prices ($ per mmBtu)
Hub
Current Day
Prior Day
Henry Hub NG-W-HH-SNL
2.35
1.80
Transco Z6 New York NG-CG-NY-SNL
1.73
1.38
PG&E Citygate NG-CG-PGE-SNL
3.56
3.67
Dominion South NG-PCN-APP-SNL
1.54
1.34
Chicago Citygate NG-CG-CH-SNL
1.98
1.96
Algonquin Citygate NG-CG-BS-SNL
2.33
1.75
SoCal Citygate NG-SCL-CGT-SNL
3.23
7.97
Waha Hub NG-WAH-WTX-SNL
0.88
1.69
SNL U.S. Power Next-Day Prices ($ per megawatt-hour)
Hub
Current Day
Prior Day
New England EL-PK-NPMS-SNL
35.50
20.50
PJM West EL-PK-PJMW-SNL
25.50
21.25
Ercot North EL-PK-ERTN-SNL
18.50
25.25
Mid C EL-PK-MIDC-SNL
38.00
37.40
Palo Verde EL-PK-PLVD-SNL
31.75
120.00
SP-15 EL-PK-SP15-SNL
34.75
102.00