Weaker production numbers day/day and continued sweltering heat in updated forecasts helped natural gas futures extend their recent gains in early trading Tuesday. Coming off a 39.2-cent rally in the previous session, the August Nymex contract was up another 20.3 cents to $6.629/MMBtu at around 8:50 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

Lower 48 production estimates as of early Tuesday were showing a roughly 2.8 Bcf/d decline day/day, down to around 93 Bcf/d on lower supply flowing out of the Northeast and the New Mexico portion of the Permian Basin, Wood Mackenzie told clients.

In the Northeast, declines totaling roughly 1.3 Bcf/d were spread across Ohio, northeastern Pennsylvania and southwestern Pennsylvania, Wood Mackenzie analyst Laura Munder said. Permian New Mexico output, meanwhile, was off around 1...