09:31 AM EDT, 07/25/2022 (MT Newswires) -- Benchmark natural gas traded at the highest in nearly six weeks early on Monday as hot weather continues to boost cooling demand.
Gas for August delivery was last seen up US$0.17 to US$8.47 per million British thermal units, the highest since June 13.
The rise comes as hot weather over much of the United States continues to boost demand for power as air conditioners run full out. The National Weather Service expects hot weather in the northeast to cool somewhat by Tuesday, while temperatures in the southern plains and lower Mississippi Valley will continue to run well above seasonal norms, while a heatwave is expected for the Northwest.
The call on power generation is expected to cut into injections into storage, supporting prices.
"All that hot weather is going to spawn a small EIA Natural Gas storage number in next week's report to July 22, and will also impact the next report in the week to July 29. EIA Natural Gas storage has already missed to the downside the past two weeks in a row, with the storage number coming in around 10 bcf lower versus a build of 33 in Thursday's report, after coming in below expectations in previous report," Robert Yawger, executive director of energy futures at Mizuho Securities USA, said in a Friday note.