Robust heat heading into the second half of July and supply concerns following a pair of recent midstream infrastructure incidents helped send natural gas futures sharply higher in early trading Monday. The August Nymex contract was up 52.4 cents to $6.558/MMBtu at around 8:55 a.m. ET.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

EBW Analytics Group senior analyst Eli Rubin attributed the early gains to a combination of increasing heat expectations later this month and possible supply risks “hinted at” following a series of reported incidents involving midstream natural gas infrastructure. 

Last week, Energy Transfer LP shut in 0.2 Bcf/d of capacity on the Old Ocean Pipeline system after a fire, while the latest incident was a reported fire at a Oneok natural gas liquids processing plant in Oklahoma over the...