Investing.com - U.S. natural gas futures rose for the third day in a row on Wednesday, hitting a more than two-week high as market players looked ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. gas inventories to gauge the strength of demand for the fuel.
Natural gas for delivery in September on the New York Mercantile Exchange touched an intraday peak of $2.795 per million British thermal units, the most since August 5.
It was last at $2.789 by 10:45AM ET (14:45GMT), up 2.8 cents, or 1.01%, after soaring 8.2 cents, or 3.06%, on Tuesday.
Market players looked ahead to weekly supply data due on Thursday, which is expected to show a build of approximately 24 billion cubic feet in the week ended August 19.
That compares with a gain of 29 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, 52 billion a year earlier and a five-year average of 57 billion cubic feet.
Total U.S. natural gas storage currently stands at 3.317 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 10.9% higher than levels at this time a year ago and 13.3% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Futures are up almost 8% so far this week as traders reacted to forecasts for scorching heat across most of the country through September 5.
According to AccuWeather, the high in Washington DC on September 1 is expected to be 87 degrees Fahrenheit (31 Celsius), three more than normal.
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.