Natural gas futures forged ahead most of Thursday, building further momentum after a government inventory report pointed to narrowing storage surpluses and forecasts showed another heatwave on the way in September. Still, the prompt month slipped into the red in afternoon trading amid profit-taking.

At A Glance:

  • Production at 96.5 Bcf/d
  • Uneven weather outlook
  • Storage situation improves

Coming off the prior session’s 13.4-cent bounce, the October Nymex gas futures contract settled at $2.768/MMBtu on Thursday, down 2.8 cents day/day. November fell 3.4 cents to $3.147.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. shed 4.0 cents to $2.285.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday reported an injection of 32 Bcf natural gas into storage for the week ended August 25....