US natural gas futures slipped below $3.20 per million British thermal units, pulling back from a near three-week high of $3.283 reached on October 13. The decline was driven primarily by forecasts for relatively mild weather across the country through October 29, which are expected to curb both heating and cooling demand.
On the demand side, average feedgas deliveries to the nine major US liquefied natural gas export terminals eased to 17.5 billion cubic feet per day so far this month, down from 17.9 bcfd in September.
In contrast, supply has tightened. Domestic output in the Lower 48 states fell to 110.8 bcfd in October, compared with record averages of 113.3 bcfd in both August and September. This reduction reflects hurricane-related shut-ins in the Gulf of Mexico, force majeure declarations, and pipeline disruptions across several states.
Meanwhile, analysts estimate that gas inventories were 1.6% above seasonal norms in the week ending October 9, down from 2% a week earlier, ahead of Thursday’s government storage report.
