Investing.com - Natural gas prices shot up on Wednesday on expectations that Thursday's weekly supply report will show increasing demand for the commodity as cooler weather makes its way into the U.S.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for delivery in December were up 1.69% at $3.810 per million British thermal units during U.S. trading. The commodity hit a session low of $3.698, and a high of $3.849.
The December contract settled up 2.58% on Tuesday to end at $3.731 per million British thermal units.
Natural gas futures were likely to find support at $3.620 per million British thermal units, Tuesday's low, and resistance at $3.955, the high from Oct. 14.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly storage report slated for release on Thursday is expected to show an increase of 85 billion cubic feet for the week ending Oct. 24., which show an increase in demand.
Inventories rose by 45 billion cubic feet in the same week a year earlier, while the five-year average change is a build of 59 billion cubic feet.
Injections of gas into storage have surpassed the five-year average for 27 consecutive weeks, alleviating concerns over tightening supplies.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 3.393 trillion cubic feet as of last week, narrowing the deficit to the five-year average to 9.1% from a record 54.7% at the end of March.
Meanwhile, updated weather-forecasting models predicted cold Canadian air to make its way south in the lower 48 states in the coming days, potentially driving demand for heating.
The heating season from November through March is the peak demand period for U.S. gas consumption.
Elsewhere on the NYMEX, light sweet crude oil futures for delivery in December were up 1.51% at $82.65 a barrel, while heating oil for December delivery were up 1.91% at $2.5299 per gallon.