Due to forecasts for cooler weather and higher-than-expected heating demand over the next two weeks, U.S. natural gas futures rose by about 1% on Thursday.

Gas futures for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 3.5 cents, or 1.2%, to $3.078 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) at 7:49am EST (12:49 GMT) to $3.078 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) at 7:49am EST (12:49am GMT). It is possible that gas prices have already peaked for 2024, when they reached $3.56 per MMBtu in November. Over the past five years, prices reached their annual highs in January 2023, August 2022, October 2021 and 2020, and January 2019. The price hike also comes ahead of the release of a federal report that should show that utilities removed an almost normal amount of gas from stocks last week, under weather conditions that were essentially normal for the season.