U.S. natural gas for September delivery was at $2.987 per million British thermal units by 9:30AM ET (1330GMT), up 0.4 cents, or around 0.1%. It touched its highest since July 21 at $3.018 earlier in the session.
Prices saw a weekly gain of nearly 7.5% last week, the biggest weekly price rally of the year, amid bullish weather forecasts that should increase demand for the fuel.
Natural gas prices have closely tracked weather forecasts in recent weeks, as traders try to gauge the impact of shifting outlooks on summer cooling demand.
Nearly 50% of all U.S. households use gas for cooling.
Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 3.038 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 8.3% lower than levels at this time a year ago but 2% above the five-year average for this time of year.
Early market expectations for this week's storage data due on Thursday is for a build in a range between 41 and 51 billion cubic feet in the week ended August 11.
That compares with a gain of 28 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, a build of 22 billion a year earlier and a five-year average rise of 50 billion cubic feet.
cc
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
