Natural gas futures struggled to find direction Monday, teetering between modest gains and losses as traders weighed robust near-term cooling demand against strong production and stout supplies in storage.

At A Glance:

  • Weather outlook loses some heat
  • Production rebounds to 101 Bcf/d
  • NGI sees smaller storage injection

The August Nymex gas futures contract ultimately settled at $2.685/MMBtu, down 2.8 cents day/day. September lost 1.9 cents to $2.688. The prompt month advanced 7% last week.

Meanwhile, amid searing near-term heat, NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. gained 17.0 cents to $2.810.

Sizzling triple-digit temperatures from California to Texas, coupled with heat and heavy humidity from the Plains to the East Coast, had air conditioners cranking Monday. More of the same...