With September lining up to deliver plenty of late-season heat, and with storage trends pointing to a shrinking Lower 48 inventory cushion, regional natural gas forwards advanced during the Aug. 24-30 trading period, NGI’s Forward Look data show.

Fixed prices at benchmark Henry Hub climbed 20.4 cents week/week to end at $2.793/MMBtu for October delivery, and fixed price gains of around 20 cents or more were the norm throughout the Lower 48.

Weather-driven demand during the upcoming week will “rebound…to strong levels as hot high pressure returns to cover most of the U.S. with highs of upper 80s to 100s, including mid- to upper 90s for chicago and lower 90s for a few days for New York City,” NatGasWeather told clients Thursday. “This also includes heat continuing over...