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Natural Gas Moves Lower Ahead of Fresh Storage Data Despite Hot Forecasts

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Natural gas edged down early on Thursday ahead of fresh storage data as hot forecasts offer a boost to cooling demand.

Gas for August delivery was last seen down $0.06, or 1.7%, to $3.16 per million British thermal units.

The drop comes even as long-term forecasts from the National Weather Service expect most states to see hotter than seasonal temperatures over its six to 10 day outlook, though the big markets of the Northeast will be cooler than usual over the period.

The Energy Information Administration will release its weekly look at inventories later on Thursday, with a lighter than usual build possible as a heat wave in eastern states boosted demand.

"Today's EIA report will be accounting for last week's heatwave that broke many high temperature records across the eastern 1/2 of the US," according to forecaster NatGasWeather. "However, wind energy generation was much stronger week over week to partially offset strong national demand. We expect a build of +43-44 Bcf versus the 5-year average of +51 Bcf and survey averages of +51-54 Bcf."

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