09:33 AM EDT, 08/18/2021 (MT Newswires) -- Benchmark natural gas edged higher early on Wednesday as long-term forecasts see hot weather for key markets.
Gas for September delivery was last seen up US$0.02 to US$3.85 per million British thermal units.
The price of the fuel has dropped 7.9% since reaching a season high of US$4.16 on August 4 as the worst of the summer heat subsides in much of the country, cutting cooling demand. However the National Weather Service's six to ten day forecast sees hotter than normal weather for all but the upper Plains states.
"The overnight weather data held a very warm to hot pattern over most of the eastern 2/3 of the US this weekend and next week with highs of upper 80s and 90s into the eastern US and 90s to near 100F over Texas and the southern US. Cooler exceptions will be over the unsettled Northwest and Rockies as weather systems sweep through," NatGasWeather noted.
The Energy Information Administration will release its weekly survey of natural gas inventories on Thursday. It last week pegged stocks at 2.78-trillion cubic feet, 6% below the five-year average.