09:28 AM EDT, 04/03/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Natural gas prices rose early on Thursday ahead of fresh storage data, advancing for a second day as cool forecasts offer some additional heating demand.

Gas for May delivery was last seen up US$0.06 to US$4.11 per million British thermal units.

The rise comes as long-term forecasts from the National Weather Service see most states east of the Mississippi River with cooler than seasonal temperatures over its six to 10 day outlook, offering some late-season heating demand.

The Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on U.S. inventories of the fuel later on Thursday, with a third-straight rise in stocks expected.

"For the EIA weekly storage report, survey averages are clustered with a build of +25 Bcf, bearish vs the 5-year average draw of -13 Bcf. It was warmer than normal over most of the US besides the cooler east-central US," NatGasWeather noted.