U.S. gas prices up 2%, demand hits record highs due to cold weather

On Friday, U.S. natural gas futures rose about 2%. Extremely cold weather acted as a major driver of rising energy prices, which have peaked in most parts of the country over the past few years. Another reason was a decline in gas output to a low of nine months due to the freezing of oil and gas wells.

Daily gas demand in the United States reached 147.3 billion cubic feet on Friday, breaking the 2019 record of 131.1 billion cubic feet. Prices increased despite forecasts for less cold weather at the end of this year and the beginning of the next one, which should allow utilities to keep more gas in storage.

Current gas reserves are almost 1% higher than the average for this season over the past five years. In four days, gas output decreased by 6.5 billion cubic feet per day, reaching a nine-month low of 92.4 billion cubic feet per day on Friday. The drop in daily output is the largest since the February freeze of 2021.