Natural gas futures probed slightly higher early Wednesday as updated forecasts teased the prospect of heat building in the eastern part of the country later this month. The July Nymex contract was up 2.0 cents to $3.148/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

As of early Wednesday the latest 15-day forecast from Bespoke Weather Services had shifted slightly hotter over the previous 24 hours. Most of the hotter change occurred after mid-June, with models showing “signs of re-heating the eastern U.S.” after June 20.

“We remain cooler for a few days next week and feel there are still cooler risks there, but the overall bias of the pattern remains to the hotter side, which will only be further confirmed if we indeed do turn hotter in the East again during the final third of June,”...