UPDATE 2-U.S. natural gas futures gain 3% on cold forecasts

(Adds latest prices) Nov 17 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures rose about 3% to a one-week high on Thursday on forecasts for much colder weather and higher heating demand over the next week or so. "Natural gas has caught a bid on the back of a big change in the weather, with forecast(s) below average for much of the (Lower) 48 states," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho in New York. Meteorologists at AccuWeather said a foot of snow had already fallen in Buffalo, New York, with another three to four feet expected in parts of Upstate New York over the next few days. U.S. gas prices increased despite forecasts for warmer weather and lower heating demand in two weeks than previously expected and a federal storage report showing an expected storage build that was much bigger than usual last week when the weather was still mild and heating demand low. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities added 64 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas to storage during the week ended Nov. 11. That was close to the 63-bcf build analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and compares with an increase of 23 bcf in the same week last year and a five-year (2017-2021) average decline of 5 bcf. Traders noted utilities started pulling gas out of storage during the cold weather this week. Some traders said they were surprised U.S. gas prices rose for a fourth day in a row despite widespread expectations Freeport LNG will delay the restart of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Texas to December or later. In recent days, a couple of LNG vessels that were either heading for Freeport (LNG Rosenrot) or had waited outside the plant (Prism Brilliance) have moved on to other ports. LNG Rosenrot is now headed for Gibraltar, while Prism Brilliance is sitting outside Corpus Christi in Texas where Cheniere Energy Inc has an LNG export plant, ship tracking data from Refinitiv showed. Federal pipeline safety regulators released a heavily redacted consultant's report this week blaming inadequate operating and testing procedures, human error and fatigue for the June 8 explosion that shut the Freeport LNG plant. Sources familiar with Freeport LNG's filings with federal regulators said that as of Wednesday morning the company had not yet submitted a request to resume service to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). Many analysts said that means the plant will not return to service until December at the earliest. Until late last week, Freeport LNG had said repeatedly the plant remained on track to return to service in November. In comments made in recent days, however, the company did not mention a restart date. Front-month gas futures rose 16.9 cents, or 2.7%, to settle at $6.369 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), their highest close since Nov. 7. That also put the front-month up for a fourth day in a row for the first time since September. Gas futures are up about 57% so far this year as much higher global gas prices feed demand for U.S. exports due to supply disruptions and sanctions linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Gas was trading at $33 per mmBtu at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) in Europe and $26 at the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) in Asia. Once the 2.1 billion-cubic-feet-per-day (bcfd) Freeport facility restarts, analysts expect U.S. gas prices to rise due to increased demand from the country's LNG export plants. Week ended Week ended Year ago Five-year Nov 11 Nov 4 Nov 11 average (Actual) (Actual) Nov 11 U.S. weekly natgas storage change (bcf): +64 +79 +23 -5 U.S. total natgas in storage (bcf): 3,644 3,580 3,640 3,651 U.S. total storage versus 5-year average -0.2% -2.1% Global Gas Benchmark Futures ($ per mmBtu) Current Day Prior Day This Month Prior Year Five Year Last Year Average Average 2021 (2017-2021) Henry Hub 6.37 6.20 5.12 3.73 2.89 Title Transfer Facility (TTF) 33.30 35.33 27.71 16.04 7.49 Japan Korea Marker (JKM) 25.89 27.79 32.98 18.00 8.95 Refinitiv Heating (HDD), Cooling (CDD) and Total (TDD) Degree Days Two-Week Total Forecast Current Day Prior Day Prior Year 10-Year 30-Year Norm Norm U.S. GFS HDDs 350 353 304 296 314 U.S. GFS CDDs 4 5 8 11 8 U.S. GFS TDDs 354 358 312 307 322 Refinitiv U.S. Weekly GFS Supply and Demand Forecasts Prior Week Current Week Next Week This Week Five-Year Last Year Average For Month U.S. Supply (bcfd) U.S. Lower 48 Dry Production 98.8 99.9 100.3 95.3 89.6 U.S. Imports from Canada 6.2 8.6 8.2 8.8 8.2 U.S. LNG Imports 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 Total U.S. Supply 105.0 108.5 108.5 104.1 97.9 U.S. Demand (bcfd) U.S. Exports to Canada 2.3 2.2 2.2 3.3 2.9 U.S. Exports to Mexico 5.8 5.6 5.6 5.5 5.1 U.S. LNG Exports 11.5 12.2 12.6 11.3 6.4 U.S. Commercial 8.5 14.2 15.7 12.0 11.5 U.S. Residential 11.6 23.1 25.6 18.2 17.2 U.S. Power Plant 29.1 32.0 30.8 27.4 26.0 U.S. Industrial 22.6 25.2 25.4 23.4 24.0 U.S. Plant Fuel 4.9 4.9 5.0 4.9 4.9 U.S. Pipe Distribution 2.1 2.7 2.8 2.7 2.1 U.S. Vehicle Fuel 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 Total U.S. Consumption 78.9 102.3 105.4 88.7 85.8 Total U.S. Demand 98.4 122.3 125.9 108.8 100.2 U.S. weekly power generation percent by fuel - EIA Week ended Week ended Week ended Week ended Week ended Nov 18 Nov 11 Nov 4 Oct 28 Oct 21 Wind 9 15 12 15 11 Solar 3 3 3 3 3 Hydro 7 6 5 5 5 Other 2 3 2 2 3 Petroleum 0 0 0 0 0 Natural Gas 41 38 39 37 39 Coal 17 16 18 18 19 Nuclear 21 20 20 19 19 SNL U.S. Natural Gas Next-Day Prices ($ per mmBtu) Hub Current Day Prior Day Henry Hub 5.88 5.90 Transco Z6 New York 7.57 6.50 PG&E Citygate 8.31 9.05 Dominion South 5.30 5.34 Chicago Citygate 5.71 5.94 Algonquin Citygate 5.60 6.46 SoCal Citygate 8.32 8.95 Waha Hub 5.06 5.35 AECO 4.50 4.97 SNL U.S. Power Next-Day Prices ($ per megawatt-hour) Hub Current Day Prior Day New England 72.25 64.00 PJM West 80.75 78.25 Ercot North 52.00 75.00 Mid C 95.50 99.50 Palo Verde 82.75 84.75 SP-15 82.50 85.00 (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Paul Simao, Lisa Shumaker and Richard Chang)