U.S. natural gas futures rise to 29-month high on small storage build U.S. natural gas futures rose over 2% to a 29-month high on Thursday on a smaller-than-expected storage build, forecasts for hotter weather over the next two weeks, rising exports and projections for power demand in Texas to reach record highs for June. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities added 55 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas into storage during the week ended June 18. That is lower than the 66-bcf build analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and compares with an increase of 115 bcf in the same week last year and a five-year (2016-2020) average increase of 83 bcf. Analysts expected a low storage build last week because power generators burned lots of gas to keep air conditioners humming during heat waves in the Southwest. Last week''s build boosted U.S. stockpiles to 2.482 trillion cubic feet (tcf), or 5.8% below the five-year average of 2.636 tcf for this time of year. Front-month gas futures rose 7.5 cents, or 2.3%, to $3.408 per million British thermal units by 12:02 p.m.