Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures started the week on an upbeat note on Monday, as market players continued to monitor weather forecasts to gauge near-term demand prospects.
Warm high pressure will dominate the Great Lakes and east-central U.S. through mid-week with highs of 80s and 90s, followed by cooling late in the week as a fresh weather system arrives with showers and thunderstorms.
The West will warm back into the 80s and 90s as the week progresses with the return of high pressure.
Natural gas for November delivery was at $3.038 per million British thermal units by 8:55AM ET (1255GMT), up 1.7 cents, or around 0.6%.
Futures lost about 2.2% last week after hitting their worst level since Sept. 12 at $2.995 on Friday, as traders reacted to the reality that higher summer demand for the commodity was coming to an end.
Demand for natural gas tends to rise in the summer months as warmer temperatures increase the need for gas-fired electricity to power air conditioning.
But with autumn having started on September 22, power burns to feed air conditioning demand have probably peaked for now, market analysts said.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 3.408 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, around 3.8% lower than levels at this time a year ago and in line with the five-year average for this time of year.
Market participants looked ahead to weekly storage data due on Thursday, which is expected to show a build in a range between 61 and 71 billion cubic feet in the week ended September 22.
That compares with a gain of 97 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, a build of 49 billion a year earlier and a five-year average rise of 84 billion cubic feet.