Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures rose on Friday to cap a weekly gain of nearly 15%, as frigid winter temperatures in the U.S. led households to burn a higher than normal amount of the fuel in furnaces to heat their homes.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption. Approximately 52% of U.S. households use natural gas for heating, according to the Energy Department.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in March rose to a session high of $6.308 per million British thermal units, before trimming gains to settle at $6.135, up 1.17%.
The March contract hit $6.400 per million British thermal units on Thursday, the highest since December 2008.
Natural gas futures were likely to find support at $5.880 per million British thermal units, the low from February 21 and resistance at $6.400, the high from February 20.
On the week, Nymex natural gas prices surged 15.01%, the second consecutive weekly gain.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report Thursday that natural gas storage in the U.S. in the week fell by 250 billion cubic feet last week, broadly in line with market expectations for a decline of 251 billion cubic feet.
Natural gas supplies fell by 127 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 1.443 trillion cubic feet as of last week, the lowest for this time of year since 2004.
Data from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission released Friday showed that hedge funds and money managers increased their bullish bets in natural gas futures in the week ending February 18.
Net longs totaled 173,214 contracts, up 5.35% from net longs of 163,943 in the previous week.
Elsewhere in the energy complex, light sweet crude oil futures for April delivery settled at $102.20 a barrel by close of trade on Friday, up 2.02% on the week.
Meanwhile, heating oil for March delivery picked up 0.83% on the week to settle at $3.097 per gallon by close of trade Friday.