US natural gas futures fell to their lowest level since late October amid forecasts for warmer-than-normal temperatures across much of the western United States next week, likely reducing heating demand, Bloomberg reported.

Futures for February delivery dropped as much as 5.9 percent to 3.404 US dollars per million British thermal units (mmbtu) in early Asian trading on Monday. As of 9:03 a.m. in Singapore, the contract was at 3.470 US dollars per mmbtu.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), large parts of the western US are expected to experience above-average temperatures from January 12 to 18. Analysts said the warmer conditions could ease demand for natural gas used in heating, putting downward pressure on prices.

Data from BloombergNEF showed that US dry gas production in the Lower 48 states reached approximately 110.6 billion cubic feet per day on Sunday, up 6 percent year-on-year. Total gas demand for the same day was about 99.5 billion cubic feet, down 6.7 percent compared with last year.

Exports of dry gas to Mexico fell to around 3.8 billion cubic feet per day, a decline of 33 percent week-on-week, while estimated flows to LNG export terminals rose slightly to roughly 20 billion cubic feet per day, up 3 percent from the previous week.