U.S. natural gas futures jumped about 6% to a four-week high on Friday on a drop in output this week and forecasts for hotter weather and more demand over the next two weeks than previously expected. Extreme heat has already boosted power demand to record highs as homes and businesses crank up their air conditioners across the country, including Texas, where conservation efforts saved the state’s grid operator from taking major emergency steps like rotating blackouts to avoid widespread outages. read more The gas price jump came despite an overall rise in output so far this month and as the ongoing outage at the Freeport liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Texas leaves more fuel in the United States for utilities to refill low storage. Freeport, the second-biggest U.S. LNG export plant, was consuming about 2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of gas […]