NEW YORK: US natural gas futures fell around 3% on Tuesday on forecasts for less demand over the next two weeks than previously expected.

The price decline came despite a preliminary drop in daily output and forecasts for hotter-than-normal weather to continue through mid-August, especially in Texas.

Power demand in Texas hit an all-time high on Monday, topping the prior record set on July 18, and will likely break that high again on Tuesday and next week as homes and businesses keep their air conditioners cranked up to escape a lingering heat wave, according to forecasts by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state’s power grid operator.

Extreme heat boosts the amount of gas burned to produce power for cooling, especially in Texas, which gets most of its electricity from gas-fired plants.