Natural gas gains on forecasts for cooler weather across much of U.S.

Investing.com - Natural gas futures rose on Friday on forecasts that colder weather will return for much of the U.S. in early January.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in February traded at USD3.463 per million British thermal units, up 1.49%.

Forecasts for cold weather to return in January pushed up prices.

The lower 48 states will experience cooler-than-normal temperatures in the next 10 days, according to various weather services, which should prompt more households and businesses to turn up the heating.

Earlier forecasts made this week predicted slightly warmer temperatures in store for the U.S., which pushed prices down in earlier sessions, giving them room to rebound on Friday.

The heating season from November through March sees peak demand for U.S. gas.

About half of U.S. households use gas for heating purposes, according to Energy Department data.

Elsewhere, U.S. natural gas storage fell less than expected last week, official data revealed on Friday.

In a report, the Energy Information Administration said that U.S. natural gas storage fell by 72 billion cubic feet last week to 3.652 trillion cubic feet, less than a decline of 82 billion cubic feet in the preceding week.

Analysts had expected U.S. natural gas storage to fall 76 billion cubic feet last week, though markets focused more on weather forecasts

Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in February were down 0.19% and trading at USD90.70 a barrel, while heating oil for February delivery were down 0.89% and trading at USD3.0219 per gallon.