-- Natural gas traded higher early Wednesday as cool long-term forecasts offer the prospect of unseasonal heating demand.
Gas for May delivery was last seen up $0.04 to US$2.74 per million British thermal units, the highest since April 7.
The rise comes as long-term forecasts from the National Weather Service expect states in the upper Midwest and Northeast to be cooler than seasonal in its eight to 14 day outlook.
New York and Chicago are expected to see lows in the 40s Fahrenheit over the period, offering some heating demand for gas in the early days of the cooling season.