NEW YORK: US natural gas futures gained on Thursday, having hit their lowest in more than two weeks earlier, as investors awaited a weekly storage report that is expected to show a much smaller-than-usual storage withdrawal on lower heating demand.

Front-month gas futures for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 2.4 cents, or 1.5%, to $1.682 per million British thermal units at 10:09 a.m. EDT (1409 GMT).

“The market is effectively flat. If we see any kind of price rally this morning, it’s just a little short covering ahead of the number, but we should consolidate into this number,” said Robert DiDona of Energy Ventures Analysis.

“There’s really nothing crazy to be expected, but the number today, it’s going to be a relatively low, either it will be a small build or a small draw,” he added.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release its weekly storage report at 10:30 a.m. ET (1430 GMT). US utilities likely pulled a much smaller-than-usual 3 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas out of storage last week as warmer-than-normal weather kept heating demand low, a Reuters poll showed.

The forecast for the week ended March 8 would cut stockpiles to 2.331 trillion cubic feet (tcf), about 17.2% above the same week a year ago and about 37.4% above the five-year average.