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US natgas prices soar 8% to 10-week high ahead of frigid cold and record demand
U.S. natural gas futures soared about 8% to a 10-week high on Friday ahead of the long Martin Luther King Day holiday weekend when extreme cold is expected to boost gas demand to record highs while also cutting gas supplies by freezing wells. In recent years, the combination of soaring demand for gas for heating and power generation at the same time that supplies of the fuel are declining due to freezing wells during massive storms has threatened the reliability of electric and gas systems. This has forced electricity grid operators and utilities to impose rotating outages because many power plants cannot operate due ... (full story)