Natural gas futures crept higher in early trading Monday as markets continued to monitor the obstruction in the Suez Canal. While projections continued to point to weak near-term demand for gas, the expiring April contract picked up 2.5 cents to trade at $2.582/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET. The May contract was up 2.2 cents to $2.641.

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The April contract late last week settled only slightly lower despite “very weak weather-driven demand,” hanging onto gains recorded following last week’s bullish storage report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), analysts at EBW Analytics Group said.

“This resilience was due in part to continued stability in the cash market…and to forecasts for a brief cold shot later this week,” the EBW analysts said. “The potential...