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

At A Glance:

  • Production at 96.5 Bcf/d
  • Uneven weather outlook
  • Storage situation improves

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...