The NYMEX November natural gas futures contract was trading up 2.7 cents at $3.516/MMBtu at 12:37 p.m. EDT (1637 GMT), despite the release of a higher-than-expected storage build for the week ended Friday.
Hamza Khan, analyst with the Schork Group, said the rise is due to the beginning of cooling degree days on the US East Coast. While the storage report was considered bearish for gas market, its impact was priced in earlier, Khan added.
The US Energy Information Administration on Thursday reported an injection of 112 Bcf into storage for the week that ended on Friday, larger than analyst's expectations of between 104 Bcf and 108 Bcf.
Commodity Weather Group forecasted lower-than-average temperatures across the US East Coast in both the six- to 10 and 11- to 15-day forecasts.
The November contract has traded so far Thursday between $3.446/MMBtu and $3.559/MMBtu.
