NG 09:33 AM EDT, 06/24/2022 (MT Newswires) -- Benchmark natural gas moved higher early on Friday on high cooling demand after falling 9% a day earlier as inventories last week rose more than expected.
Gas for July delivery was last seen up US$0.07 to US$0.07 to US$6.31 per million British thermal units.
The rise follows on Thursday's inventory report from the Energy Information Administration that showed US gas stocks rose by 74-billion cubic feet last week, well above the consensus estimate for a 63-billion cubic foot rise.
Supplies have been bolstered by the shutdown of the Freeport LNG plant in Texas following a fire earlier this month, keeping two-billion cubic feet per day that would have been exported in the domestic market.
Still, hot weather is expected to keep electricity demand, with much of the southern half of the United States seeing hotter than normal temperatures.
"Strong power burns will continue through the weekend due to widespread heat across the southern 1/2 of the US and light wind energy generation, hottest from California to Texas. National demand will ease to seasonal levels early next week as weather systems sweep across the Midwest and Northeast, including deep down the Plains and into Texas, dropping highs behind the cool front into the comfortable 60s to 80s," NatGasWeather noted