Evidence of a production dip amid springtime pipeline maintenance helped natural gas futures claw back a few pennies in early trading Tuesday. 

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

Coming off an 11.9-cent slide in Monday’s session, the May Nymex contract was up 3.0 cents to $2.127/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET.

The temperature outlook for April “continues to hemorrhage demand” for natural gas, including a sizable decline in degree days over the past 24 hours, EBW Analytics Group analyst Eli Rubin told clients early Tuesday. 

Moderating temperatures could “slash more than 9 Bcf/d of demand for gas” between the current storage week and the April 14-20 storage period, Rubin said.

“We caution that seasonal losses may be amplified with acutely weather-sensitive home offices ratcheting down heating...