Natural gas futures were up sharply in early trading Monday as forecasters were tracking a veritable scatterplot of named tropical storms in the Atlantic, including one that had forced production shut-ins in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). 

AM markets

Meanwhile, estimates of daily liquefied natural gas (LNG) feed gas volumes rose over the weekend, outperforming analyst expectations and strengthening the near-term demand outlook.

The October Nymex contract was up 10.2 cents to $2.371/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET.

As of 8 a.m. ET the National Hurricane Center (NHC) was monitoring five named storms in the Atlantic. Among these, Tropical Storm Sally had drawn the closest to the Lower 48, churning about 115 miles east-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. 

The storm could produce...