After rising Monday and Tuesday and then falling on Wednesday, natural gas futures returned to the plus column on Thursday as the October Nymex natural gas futures contract gained 2.8 cents day/day to settle at $2.708/MMBtu. 

There could be some reason to believe that prices will continue their rise. U.S. production was below 100 Bcf/d this week, down some 2 Bcf/d from highs earlier in the month. Permian Basin weather events, and lower rig counts, were seen as the culprits.

“Rig counts in Louisiana and East Texas have fallen sharply in recent months, supporting our view for a near-term decline,” East Daley Analytics’ Oren Pilant said Wednesday.

Freeport LNG was having issues but volumes at the plant ramped up midweek. Meanwhile, a worker strike at Chevron Corp.