Natural gas futures rose early Thursday ahead of fresh storage data as forecasts see hot weather on the way for big eastern markets.
Gas for June delivery was last seen up $0.03 to US$3.03 per million British thermal units.
The rise comes as long-term forecasts from the National Weather Service expect all states east of the Mississippi River to see hotter than seasonal temperatures over its six to 10 day outlook, offering a boost to cooling demand.
The Energy Information Administration will release its weekly survey of inventories of the fuel later on Thursday morning, with another rise in stocks expected.
"For today's EIA weekly storage report, survey averages are tightly clustered at +95 Bcf, slightly larger than the 5-year average of +92 Bcf. Temperatures were warmer than normal over the western 2/3 of the US for the sample week, while the eastern 1/3 was cooler than normal. We expect a plump build of +101 Bcf and aided by record solar generation," NatGasWeather wrote.