May 3 (Reuters) - Cheniere Energy reported lower

LNG revenue for the first quarter, as the top U.S. liquefied

natural gas producer was hurt by a fall in natural gas prices.

U.S. natural gas prices plunged to a three-and-a-half-year

low in February and stayed below $2 per million British thermal

units for much of the first quarter.

The company said $697 million reduction in revenue was

attributed to U.S. Henry Hub gas pricing to which the majority

of its long-term LNG sales contracts are indexed.

The Houston, Texas-based firm reported LNG revenue of $4.04

billion for the three months ended March 31, compared with $7.09

billion in the year-ago quarter.