Investing.com - Natural gas prices rose to the highest level in almost four weeks on Wednesday, as market participants looked ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. gas inventories to gauge the strength of demand for the fuel.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas for delivery in July hit an intraday peak of $2.943 per million British thermal units, the most since May 22, before trading at $2.917 during U.S. morning hours, up 2.2 cents, or 0.76%.
A day earlier, natural gas prices inched up 0.5 cents, or 0.17%, to end at $2.894. Futures were likely to find support at $2.764 per million British thermal units, the low from June 15, and resistance at $3.017, the high from May 22.
Natural gas prices are up almost 6% this week after updated weather forecasting models pointed to warmer-than-average temperatures in the eastern third of the U.S. through June 24, boosting near-term demand expectations for the heating fuel.
Demand for natural gas tends to fluctuate in the summer based on hot weather and air conditioning use.
Approximately 49% of U.S. households use natural gas for heating, according to the Energy Department.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration's next storage report slated for release on Thursday is expected to show a build of approximately 98 billion cubic feet for the week ending June 12.
Supplies rose by 112 billion cubic feet in the same week last year, while the five-year average change is an increase of 87 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage stood at 2.344 trillion cubic feet as of last week, 47.3% higher than during the same week a year earlier and 1.9% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Last spring, supplies were 55% below the five-year average, indicating producers have made up for all of last winter’s unusually strong demand.
Elsewhere on the Nymex, crude oil for delivery in August tacked on 80 cents, or 1.32%, to trade at $61.25 a barrel, while heating oil for July delivery jumped 2.1% to trade at $1.924 per gallon.