Dec 23 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures fell more than 6% on Thursday, weighed down by forecasts for milder weather and lower heating demand than previously expected and smaller-than-usual storage withdrawal last week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities pulled 55 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas from storage during the week ended Dec. 17. . That was close to the 56-bcf decline that analysts had forecast in a Reuters poll and compared with a draw of 147 bcf in the same week last year and a five-year (2016-2020) average decline of 153 bcf. Last week"s withdrawal reduced stockpiles to 3.362 trillion cubic feet (tcf), or 1% above the five-year average of 3.328 tcf for this time of the year. Front-month gas futures dropped 24.5 cents, or 6.2%, to settle at $3.731 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). However, for the week, the contract is up 1.1%, after three weeks of decline. Most of the U.S. markets will be closed on Friday, Christmas Eve, which is a holiday this year. "I think weather and the demand forecast are the big factors weighing on the market," said John Abeln, an analyst with data provider Refinitiv. "The end of December was already expected to be significantly warmer than usual, but forecasts keep shifting warmer. "We typically see lower commercial and industrial gas usage around a major holiday like Christmas, but with the warm weather we will also see lower residential loads," Abeln said. Refinitiv estimated 400 heating degree days (HDDs) over the next two weeks in the Lower 48 U.S. states, down from the 409 HDDs estimated on Wednesday. The normal is 429 HDDs for this time of year. HDDs, used to estimate demand to heat homes and businesses, measure the number of degrees a day"s average temperature is below 65 Fahrenheit (18 Celsius). Refinitiv projected average U.S. gas demand, including exports, would fall from 125.3 billion cubic feet per day this week to 115.3 bcfd next week. The U.S. price decline also came after gas prices in Europe dropped more than 15% as expectations of the arrival of several liquefied natural (LNG) gas tankers and warmer weather over the next few days helped to offset low exports from Russia. The amount of gas flowing to U.S. LNG export plants has averaged 11.9 bcfd so far in December, now that the sixth train at Cheniere Energy Inc"s (LNG.A) Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana is producing LNG. That compares with 11.4 bcfd in November and a monthly record of 11.5 bcfd in April. Output in the U.S. Lower 48 has averaged 96.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in December, which would top the monthly record of 96.5 bcfd in November. Week ended Dec 17 (Forecast) Week ended Dec 10 (Actual) Year ago Dec 17 Five-year average Dec 17 U.S. weekly natgas storage change (bcf): -56 -88 -147 -153 U.S. total natgas in storage (bcf): 3,361 3,417 3,496 3,328 U.S. total storage versus 5-year average +0.9 -1.8% Global Gas Benchmark Futures ($ per mmBtu) Current Day Prior Day This Month Last Year Prior Year Average 2020 Five Year Average (2016-2020) Henry Hub 3.83 3.98 2.58 2.13 2.66 Title Transfer Facility (TTF) 46.99 57.25 5.82 3.24 5.19 Japan Korea Marker (JKM) -- 43.45 9.46 4.22 6.49 Refinitiv Heating (HDD), Cooling (CDD) and Total (TDD) Degree Days Two-Week Total Forecast Current Day Prior Day Prior Year 10-Year Norm 30-Year Norm U.S. GFS HDDs 400 409 381 410 431 U.S. GFS CDDs 11 10 2 4 4 U.S. GFS TDDs 411 419 383 415 435 Refinitiv U.S. Weekly GFS Supply and Demand Forecasts Prior Week Current Week Next Week This Week Last Year Five-Year Average For Month U.S. Supply (bcfd) U.S. Lower 48 Dry Production 96.8 97.2 97.3 92.1 84.7 U.S. Imports from Canada 8.0 8.4 8.8 9.2 8.9 U.S. LNG Imports 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.3 Total U.S. Supply 104.9 105.6 106.0 101.4 93.9 U.S. Demand (bcfd) U.S. Exports to Canada 3.7 3.5 3.5 2.9 3.0 U.S. Exports to Mexico 5.4 5.6 5.6 4.9 4.6 U.S. LNG Exports 11.9 12.7 12.6 11.0 5.0 U.S. Commercial 12.5 15.6 14.2 16.2 15.0 U.S. Residential 20.1 26.0 23.7 27.1 25.4 U.S. Power Plant 25.6 29.7 24.9 26.3 25.8 U.S. Industrial 23.2 24.6 23.4 25.1 24.6 U.S. Plant Fuel 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.8 U.S. Pipe Distribution 2.4 2.8 2.5 2.4 2.4 U.S. Vehicle Fuel 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 Total U.S. Consumption 88.7 103.5 93.5 102.0 98.1 Total U.S. Demand 109.7 125.3 115.3 120.8 110.7 U.S. weekly power generation percent by fuel - EIA Week ended Dec 24 Week ended Dec 17 Week ended Dec 10 Week ended Dec 3 Week ended Nov 26 Wind 11 15 13 11 13 Solar 2 2 2 2 2 Hydro 7 7 7 6 6 Other 2 2 2 2 2 Petroleum 1 1 1 1 1 Natural Gas 37 34 36 37 34 Coal 19 18 19 19 20 Nuclear 22 22 21 22 22 SNL U.S. Natural Gas Next-Day Prices ($ per mmBtu) Hub Current Day Prior Day Henry Hub 3.95 3.96 Transco Z6 New York 3.75 4.86 PG&E Citygate 7.78 6.32 Dominion South 3.50 3.13 Chicago Citygate 3.70 3.70 Algonquin Citygate 16.50 9.75 SoCal Citygate 8.55 7.43 Waha Hub 3.35 3.46 AECO 4.32 4.14 SNL U.S. Power Next-Day Prices ($ per megawatt-hour) Hub Current Day New England 121.75 92.75 PJM West 34.00 38.00 Ercot North 29.50 33.00 Mid C 69.25 59.50 Palo Verde 73.75 67.75 SP-15 75.50 70.50