Reuters, December 13-U.S. natural gas futures rose nearly 4% on Monday to a new one-week high due to the expected colder weather next week and higher demand than previously expected. The 11% increase in European natural gas prices should be able to maintain the liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the United States Exports are close to historical highs.

Natural gas prices in Europe have soared to their highest level since a record high in early October, due to rising demand expectations and renewed concerns that Russia will be affected by the delay in the start of Gazprom’s PAO (GAZP.MM) Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline. Obstruct the export of natural gas to Europe. Russia to Germany.

US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken said on Sunday that if Russia renews its aggression against Ukraine, it is unlikely that natural gas will flow through Beixi-2. read more

At 8:14 am Eastern Time (1314 GMT), the near-month natural gas futures rose 14.8 cents, or 3.8%, to US$4.073 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), making the contract expected to hit 12 The highest closing price since March 3. The second day in a row.

Before the latest price increase, speculators cut their net long positions on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Intercontinental Exchange to their lowest levels since June 2020 for the second consecutive week last week, due to the expectation that the United States will have enough natural gas for the winter Use heating season. Read more APN0DFZLE

In recent months, global natural gas prices have hit record highs, as utilities around the world scramble to purchase LNG cargoes from the United States and elsewhere to supplement low European inventories and meet the surge in demand in Asia, where energy shortages in Asia have led to China power failure.

US futures jumped to a 12-year high in early October, but have since fallen back because the US has sufficient natural gas reserves and sufficient winter production. The current overseas price trading price is about 10 times that of US futures.

Analysts said that European inventories were about 20% below normal levels at this time of the year, while the US was only 3% below normal levels.

Looking ahead, many analysts said that milder than normal weather is expected in the next few weeks, which will allow U.S. utilities to store enough natural gas to allow inventories to reach above-normal levels in mid-December. This will be the first time that inventories have been above normal levels since April.

Data provider Refinitiv said that as of December, the average production of the lower 48 states in the United States was 96.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd), which is expected to break the monthly record of 96.5 bcfd in November.

Refinitiv predicts that as the weather becomes seasonally colder, the average US natural gas demand, including exports, will jump from 110.3 bcfd this week to 123.7 bcfd next week.

Since the sixth train at the Cheniere Energy Inc (LNG.A) Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana is producing LNG, the average amount of natural gas flowing to the US LNG export plant so far in December is 12.0 bcfd. In contrast, November was 11.4 bcfd, and April set a monthly record of 11.5 bcfd.

The price of natural gas in Europe is about US$38 per million British thermal units, US$35 per million British thermal units in Asia, and US$4 in the United States. Traders said that buyers around the world will continue to buy all the LNG that the US can produce.

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