US natural gas futures edged higher on Thursday, supported by bullish near-term weather forecasts ahead of weekly storage data expected to be broadly in line with year-ago levels.
The front-month Henry Hub contract and the continuous contract both rose by 0.38% to $2.936 per million British thermal units.
Weather forecasts point towards warmer-than-average temperatures across most of the country, barring the Northeast, from July 30 through August 5, according to the National Weather Service.
This is expected to keep cooling demand strong, along with gas-driven power burn elevated in the near term.
The US Energy Information Administration is set to release the weekly natural gas storage report later in the day, with forecasts expecting a net injection of 29 billion cubic feet of working gas into storage, which is broadly in line with last year's 27 Bcf, and the five-year average of 30 Bcf, for this period, according to Investing.com.
Dry gas output held steady at 107.6 Bcf/d, while demand witnessed a sharp day-over-day decline, as cooler weather swept across Eastern parts of the country, reducing cooling demand, according to NRG Energy.