By Scott DiSavino

Dec 18 (Reuters) -U.S. natural gas futures climbed about 2% on Wednesday on rising flows to the nation's liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants and expectations utilities pulled more gas out of storage than usual to heat homes and businesses during extreme cold for a second week in a row last week.

Analysts, however, projected rising output and forecasts for mild weather and low heating demand through the start of the new year should keep storage withdrawals smaller than normal in coming weeks. There was currently about 4% more gas in storage than usual for this time of year. EIA/GAS NGAS/POLL

Front-month gas futures NGc1 for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 7 cents, or 2.1%, to $3.378 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at 8:08 a.m. EST (1308 GMT).

Some analysts have said that winter, and the high prices it usually brings, could be over before the season officially starts since the heavily traded March-April "widow-maker" spread started trading in unusual contango in early December. That means the April contract is priced higher than the March contract.

March is the last month of the winter storage withdrawal season, and April is the first month of the summer storage injection season. Because gas is primarily a winter heating fuel, summer prices typically do not trade above winter ones.

It is also possible that gas prices have already hit their 2024 peak when they reached an intraday high of $3.56 per mmBtu in November. Over the past five years, prices hit their yearly highs in January 2023, August 2022, October 2021 and 2020, and January 2019.

SUPPLY AND DEMAND

Financial firm LSEG said average gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states rose to 103.1 billion cubic feet per day so far in December, up from 101.5 bcfd in November. That compares with a record 105.3 bcfd in December 2023.

Meteorologists projected weather in the Lower 48 states would remain mostly warmer than normal through at least Jan. 2.

But with seasonally colder weather coming - it is usually colder in January than December - LSEG forecast average gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, would rise from 123.9 bcfd this week to 128.2 bcfd next week. The forecast for next week was lower than LSEG's outlook on Tuesday.

The amount of gas flowing to the eight big LNG export plants operating in the U.S. rose to an average of 14.1 bcfd so far in December, up from 13.6 bcfd in November. That compares with a monthly record high of 14.7 bcfd in December 2023.

Some of that LNG feedgas increase came from rising flows to the first 1.8-bcfd phase of Venture Global LNG's Plaquemines export plant under construction in Louisiana. Plaquemines was on track to pull in about 0.3 bcfd of gas on Wednesday, according to LSEG data, the same as Tuesday and up from an average of 0.1 bcfd over the prior seven days.

The U.S. became the world's biggest LNG supplier in 2023, ahead of recent leaders Australia and Qatar, as much higher global prices feed demand for more exports due in part to supply disruptions and sanctions linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Gas prices were trading around $13 per mmBtu at both the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in Europe TRNLTTFMc1 and the Japan-Korea Marker (JKM) JKMc1 benchmark in Asia. NG/EU

Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Shailesh Kuber

For gas data on the LSEG terminal type ENERGY in the search bar and then go to the GAS drop down and the NORTH AMERICA drop down.

For Interactive Map, type 'Interactive Map' in the box at upper left of the LSEG terminal

For graphics on Baker Hughes rig counts, see: http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/15/rigcount/index.html

For next-day SNL U.S. gas prices, see: 0#SNL-NG

For next-day SNL U.S. power prices, see: 0#SNL-PWR

For U.S. natgas price and storage polls, see: NGAS/POLL

For U.S. nuclear power outages, see: NUKE/

For U.S. Northwest hydro power report, see: NWRFC

For U.S./Canada natural gas rig count vs Henry Hub futures price, see: http://tmsnrt.rs/2eT9k44

For the U.S. natural gas speed guide, see: USGAS

For the U.S. power speed guide, see: USPOWER

To determine CFTC managed money net position add (NYMEX Henry Hub options and futures combined 3023651MNET) plus (ICE Henry Hub options and futures combined 3023391MNET divided by four) plus (NYMEX Henry Hub swaps options and futures combined 303565BMNET divided by four) plus (NYMEX Henry Hub penultimate gas swaps 303565CMNET divided by four)

NYMEX Henry Hub options and futures combined 0#3CFTC023651

NYMEX Henry Hub futures only 0#1CFTC023651

ICE Henry Hub options and futures combined 0#3CFTC023391

NYMEX Henry Hub swaps options and futures combined 0#3CFTC03565B

NYMEX Henry Hub Penultimate gas swaps 0#3CFTC03565C