** Shares of U.S. natural gas companies gain, tracking rise in natgas futures NGA

** U.S. natgas futures NGc1 up 8% at $5.468 per million British thermal unit

** Natgas prices hit a 35-month high, on speculative buying as homes and businesses kept cranking up their heaters to escape extreme cold while flows to liquefied natural gas $(LNG)$ export plants remained near record highs

** Shares of natgas companies: CNX Resources CNX.N up ~4%, Expand Energy EXE.O and EQT Corp EQT.N both up ~2%

** ETFs rise: United States Natural Gas Fund UNG.P up 5% and ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas BOIL.P up 10%

(Reporting by Dharna Bafna)

((Dharna.bafna@thomsonreuters.com))