With conditions seen favoring robust cooling demand heading into the summer, natural gas futures climbed in early trading Monday. The June Nymex contract was up 16.9 cents to $7.832/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET. July was up 17.2 cents to $7.937.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

Strong power generation demand recently, driven by heat in the southern Lower 48 and lower wind generation over the weekend, was supporting higher prices heading into Monday’s session, according to Bespoke Weather Services.

“Production is a little higher, though not quite back to year-to-date highs,” Bespoke said. “Canadian imports are down a little since Friday…Given the strength in power burns we are seeing, we still feel the risk to prices is skewed to the upside, and our lean is that we probably have not seen the highs in...