** Shares of natural gas companies rise, as natgas futures soar about 10% to a five-week high

** U.S. natgas prices up 8.8% at $2.91 per mln British thermal units (mmBtu), helped by a drop in daily output over the past few days and forecast for much cooler weather and more heating demand over the next two weeks than previously expected

** LNG producers EQT Corp up 3.8%, CNX Resources

rises 3.1% and Cheniere Energy up 3.4%

** ETFs United States Natural Gas Fund up 8.9% and ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas rises 14%

(Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru)

((Pooja.Menon@thomsonreuters.com;))