Natural gas futures rallied on Monday as production slipped, expectations for strong cooling demand increased and a cut to global oil supplies created potential support for LNG prices.

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Coming off a 1.4-cent gain Friday, the July Nymex gas futures contract gained 7.3 cents day/day and settled at $2.245/MMBtu to start the new trading week. August rose 6.7 cents to $2.366.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. climbed 26.5 cents on Monday to $1.900. 

Production dipped just below 100 Bcf/d over the weekend, off about 1 Bcf/d from last week’s pace, while forecasts as of Monday pointed to more impressive summer heat on the way.

Both the American and European models added cooling degree days over the weekend, with hotter trends focused on the June 14-20 time frame, according to...