09:25 AM EDT, 07/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Natural gas prices fell early on Friday as a bullish inventory report released a day earlier was offset by cooling forecasts and weak LNG demand. Gas for August delivery was last seen down US$0.04 to US$2.09 per million British thermal units.

The Energy Information Administration on Thursday reported U.S. natural-gas inventories rose by 10-billion cubic feet last week, under the consensus estimate, leaving inventories at 3.21-trillion cubic feet, 16.9% above the five-year average.

"Last week's print came in as a 10bcf build, significantly tighter than the 5-yr average (49bcf) and the Street (~26bcf) with storage balances sitting at 3,209bcf. While builds and revisions have begun to swing prints back and forth over the 5-year average, YTD cumulative builds now sit 588bcf lower than the 5-year. Production data is starting to see an uplift with last week's production remaining at 101.6bcfpd," Tudor, Pickering, Holt analyst Justin Martin noted.

Long-term forecasts from the National Weather Service see most Midwest and east coast states with seasonal or cooler temperatures over the next six to 10 days, easing cooling demand.

Weak export demand is also keeping supply robust, with the Freeport LNG plant still slowing restarting after it was damaged by Hurricane Beryl. The call on gas supply from LNG plants fell to the lowest in 12 weeks on Wednesday, Reuters reported.