American natural gas futures rose slightly on Thursday. Higher temperature forecasts for mid-July should increase demand for air-conditioning and gas-fired electricity, while the return of LNG terminals to service after spring maintenance should also

Gas futures for delivery in August on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) rose by 4.8 cents, or 1.4%, to $3.54 per million British thermal units at 09:49 EDT (13:49 GMT) to $3.54 per million British thermal units at 09:49 EDT (13:49 GMT). The price increase preceded the publication of the weekly report by the American Energy Information Agency (EIA), expected at 10:30am (Eastern Time), which should indicate that energy companies injected more gas into their inventories last week, for the eleventh week in a row. Analysts expect energy companies to have added 53 billion cubic feet of gas to their inventories during the week ended June 27.