Natural gas is "hot" right now.
09:42 AM EDT, 06/29/2021 (MT Newswires) -- Benchmark natural gas rose to a 30-month high early on Thursday as a record heat wave in the west and hot temperatures in the northeast boost cooling demand.
Gas for August delivery was last seen up US$0.12 to US$3.71 per million British thermal units, the highest since December, 2018.
The rise comes as a record heat wave bring previously unseen temperatures to the Northwest even as the northeast swelters.
"National demand will be quite strong the next couple days as the East remains hot with highs of upper 80s to mid-90s, along with record breaking heat over the West, although not quite as hot over Portland and Seattle. National demand will ease late in the week as a weather system over the central US advances into the East, cooling early week heat back into the 70s to 80s and where the overnight data held cooler trend," NatGasWeather said in a note.
Supply remains constrained as gas from oil wells remains constrained as producers have restrained from drilling new wells, even as LNG demand is robust. The Energy Information Administration last week reported U.S gas inventories stood at 2.48 trillion cubic feet, 5.8% below the five-year average.