Sept 12 (Reuters) -U.S. natural gas futures little changed on Thursday ahead of a federal weekly storage report as traders accessed impact on supply after oil and gas producers cut output due to storm Francine.

Front-month gas futures NGc1 for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange little changed to $2.27 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at 10:12 a.m. EDT (1312 GMT). The contract hit its highest since July 11 on Wednesday.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly storage report at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) on Thursday. U.S. utilities likely added a smaller-than-usual 48 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas into storage last week, according to the average estimate in a Reuters poll. EIA/GAS

If correct, the forecast for the week ended Sept. 6 would increase stockpiles to 3.395 trillion cubic feet, about 6.5% above the same week a year ago and around 9.8% above the five-year average for the week.

"Natural gas is pulling back a little bit today and part of it is because Hurricane Francine has gone through the Gulf of Mexico and now we are hoping that we can bring some natural gas production back online." said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group.

Flynn also attributed the price decline to expectations that Francine would reduce gas demand by limiting flows to LNG export facilities along the Gulf Coast and causing power disruptions for homes and businesses. Louisiana hosts three of the United States' seven major operational LNG export plants.

Storm Francine barreled into southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi and Alabama on Thursday, pounding the region with heavy rains and gusty winds while threatening the Gulf Coast with dangerous flooding and widespread power outages.

The amount of natural gas flowing to U.S. liquefied natural gas export plants was on track to slide further on Thursday with energy companies reducing feedgas to plants as storm Francine barreled into southeastern Louisiana, according to data from financial firm LSEG.

Over 75% of U.S. gas production comes from big inland shale basins like Appalachia in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio and the Permian in West Texas and eastern New Mexico, analysts said hurricanes were more likely to reduce gas prices by cutting demand through power outages and knocking LNG export plants out of service.

SUPPLY AND DEMAND

Financial firm LSEG said gas output in the Lower 48 U.S. states slid to an average of 102.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in September, down from 103.2 bcfd in August.

LSEG forecast average gas demand in the Lower 48, including exports, will rise from 99.6 bcfd this week to 100.1 bcfd next week.

Meanwhile, LSEG forecast average gas supply in the Lower 48, including exports, will fall marginally from 109.8 bcfd this week to 109.4 bcfd next week.

Reporting by Sherin Elizabeth Varghese and Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru, Editing by Nick Zieminski

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

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