Natural gas futures climbed early Tuesday, bolstered by a mounting southern heat wave and a maintenance-induced production decline that offset a litany of lingering bearish factors.  

Morning Markets

Coming off a 1.2-cent gain to start the week, the July Nymex gas futures contract was up 7.2 cents to $2.338/MMBtu at around 8:40 ET Tuesday.

“There hasn’t been much to the bullish side,” NatGasWeather said. The firm noted robust supplies in storage, strong production levels near 101 Bcf/d – aside from occasional maintenance interruptions — and LNG export volumes that have been relatively soft in June due to repair and upgrade work at liquefied natural gas facilities. LNG feed gas hovered close to 12.5 Bcf/d in early estimates Tuesday. That was down from spring highs of about 15...