Natural gas futures powered forward on Thursday, bolstered by a bullish government inventory report, lighter production and forecasts for intense heat in August.

Storage Report

The August Nymex gas futures contract settled at $2.757/MMBtu, up 15.4 cents day/day. September gained 14.6 cents to $2.731.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. jumped 17.5 cents to $2.715.

Futures started the day strong – up about 12 cents early — amid estimates that put production at around 99.5 Bcf/d. That was off about 1.5 Bcf/d from July highs, dragged lower by maintenance events in the Northwest and Texas.

National Weather Service (NWS) data, meanwhile, showed already searing heat trending even hotter and more widespread in late July and early August, galvanizing expectations for robust cooling demand through...