Natural gas futures were trading slightly higher early Tuesday as Hurricane Sally, hovering just off the northern Gulf Coast, forced production shut-ins and threatened to cause “historic flooding” in the region. The October Nymex contract was up 1.1 cents to $2.321/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET.

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The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned early Tuesday that Sally could deliver “historic flooding” and “extreme life-threatening flash flooding” over areas along the northern Gulf Coast through Wednesday.

As of 8 a.m. ET, Sally was about 65 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi River and moving northwest at 2 mph, according to forecasters.

Sally was expected to continue moving northwest Tuesday morning before turning northward in the afternoon. A “slow...