March 6 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures dropped
more than 12% on Monday, after hitting a five-week high in the
previous session, as the cold weather forecast for March turned
more mild over the weekend.
Front-month gas futures for April slid 12.6% to $2.63
per million British thermal units (mmBtu), and are on track for
their worst day since Jan. 30.
Friday's outlook for an exceptionally colder-than-normal
March moderated significantly over the weekend, analysts said.
"Volatility reigns supreme, but no change to our macro view
that strip heading lower on normal weather through remainder of
2023," Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co said in a note.
Assuming a normal weather forecast, the brokerage said it
expects gas would likely need to trade around $2.75 per mmBtu
through most of 2024.
Gas producers Chesapeake Energy Corp , EQT Corp and CNX Resources Corp fall between 2% and 3% in
premarket trading, while top U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG)
exporter Cheniere Energy Inc was down 1.8% at $161.51.
On Friday, gas futures rose 8.8% to settle at $3.009 per
mmBtu, their highest close since Jan. 27, as the amount of gas
flowing to U.S. LNG export plants soared to a record high and on
new two-week forecasts for colder weather and higher heating
demand.
(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi
Majumdar)
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