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

** U.S. natgas futures NGc1 up 3.3% at $4.01 per million British thermal units. On Tuesday, the contract had closed at its lowest since October 29

** Natgas prices climb on near-record gas flows to LNG export plants and forecasts for higher demand next week than previously expected

** CNX Resources CNX.N gains ~1%, EQT Corp EQT.N rises 1.2%, while Cheniere Energy LNG.N and Williams Companies WMB.N are each up marginally

** NextDecade NEXT.O rises 2.6% and New Fortress Energy NFE.O soars 13.3%

** NFE extends its forbearance agreement for notes due in 2029, giving it until January 19 to make the overdue payments

** Natgas ETFs also rise, with United States Natural Gas Fund UNG.P up 2.4% and ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas BOIL.P up 4.1%

(Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru)

((Pooja.Menon@thomsonreuters.com))