Natural gas futures rallied on Thursday after a bullish government inventory report and amid consistently solid demand for U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.

EIA storage march 19

The April Nymex contract climbed 5.2 cents day/day and settled at $2.570/MMBtu. May gained 4.8 cents to $2.616.

It marked the fourth time in five trading sessions that the prompt month advanced after an otherwise challenging month for futures because of mild weather and fading domestic heating demand.

Cash prices, which have moved in a narrow range of gains and losses this week, traded sideways Thursday. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. edged down 1.0 cent to $2.285.

LNG feed gas volumes hovered close to 11.6 Bcf on Thursday, according to NGI estimates, not far from record levels reached earlier in the month...