** Shares of natural gas companies rise, tracking natgas futures NGA/

** U.S. natgas prices NGc1 up 3.8% at $3.77 per mln British thermal units (mmBtu), on near record flows to liquefied natural gas $(LNG)$ export plants and forecasts for colder weather and higher heating demand over the next two weeks than previously expected

** LNG firms NextDecade NEXT.O up 2.4%, CNX Resources CNX.N rises 1.3%, Cheniere Energy LNG.N rises 2.7%, Williams Companies WMB.N up 2.9% and New Fortress Energy NFE.O rises 5.8%

** ETFs United States Natural Gas Fund UNG.P climbs 3.9% and ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas BOIL.P up 6.6%

(Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru)

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