Adds latest prices, tropical storm

June 2 (Reuters) -U.S. natural gas futures edged up about 1% on Friday on forecasts for more demand over the next two weeks than previously expected and record exports to Mexico.

The price increase came despite near record U.S. output and continued low amounts of gas flowing to U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants due to maintenance.

Front-month gas futures NGc1 for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) rose 1.4 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $2.172 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). On Thursday, the contract closed at its lowest level since May 5.

That left the contract little changed for the week after it lost about 16% last week.

With growing interest in energy trading, open interest in NYMEX gas futures rose to 1.387 million contracts on Thursday, its highest number since September 2021.

In the spot market, meanwhile, low demand due to mild weather cut next-day gas prices for Friday at the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark NG-W-HH-SNL in Louisiana to $1.77 per mmBtu, their lowest price since October 2020.

In a reminder of the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Arlene formed in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida. The storm is expected to weaken over the next day or so as it heads south toward Cuba, taking it away from U.S. oil and gas infrastructure.

Data provider Refinitiv said average gas output in the U.S. Lower 48 states eased to 102.4 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in June, down from a monthly record of 102.5 bcfd in May.

Meteorologists projected the weather in the Lower 48 states would remain mostly near through June 15 before turning warmer than normal from June 16-17.

Refinitiv forecast U.S. gas demand, including exports, would rise from 91.0 bcfd this week to 93.9 bcfd next week and 95.0 bcfd in two weeks as the weather turns seasonally warmer, prompting power generators to start burning more gas to meet rising air conditioning use.

The demand forecast for next week was higher than Refinitiv's outlook on Thursday.

U.S. exports to Mexico rose to 7.6 bcfd so far in June, up from 5.9 bcfd in May. That compares with a monthly record high of 6.7 bcfd in June 2021.

Gas flows to the seven big U.S. LNG export plants rose to 13.1 bcfd have risen so far in June, up from 13.0 bcfd in May. That was still well below the monthly record of 14.0 bcfd in April due to maintenance at several facilities, including Cheniere Energy Inc's LNG.A Sabine Pass in Louisiana.

GLOBAL GAS PRICE COLLAPSE

Some analysts have questioned whether this year's gas price collapse in Europe and Asia could force U.S. exporters to cancel LNG cargoes this summer after mostly mild weather over the winter left massive amounts of gas in storage. In 2020, at least 175 LNG shipments were canceled due to weak demand.

But for now, most analysts say energy security concerns following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 should keep global gas prices high enough to sustain record U.S. LNG exports in 2023.

Gas was trading at a 25-month low of around $7 per mmBtu at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in Europe TRNLTTFMc1 and near a 24-month low of $9 at the Japan Korea Marker (JKM) in Asia JKMc1. That put both TTF and JKM down about 69% so far this year. NG/EU

U.S. gas futures, which are down about 52% so far this year, lag far behind global prices because the United States is the world's top producer with all the fuel it needs for domestic use, while capacity constraints prevent the country from exporting more LNG.

Reporting by Scott DiSavino; editing by Paul Simao and David Evans

For Refinitiv type ENERGY in nEiko search bar and then go to the GAS drop down and the NORTH AMERICA drop down or see: cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageid=usages

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

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

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

For next-day SOL 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: USGS

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

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