American natural gas futures fell by around 1% on Thursday.

Gas futures for March delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by 1.7 cents, or 0.5%, to $3.343 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) at 10:33am EST (15:33 GMT) to $3.343 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) at 10:33am EST (15:33 GMT). On Wednesday, the contract closed at its highest level since January 29. The fall in prices occurred despite increased flows to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants and forecasts of colder weather and higher heating demand over the next two weeks than expected. The EIA said that energy companies removed 174 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas from inventories during the week ended January 31