U.S. natural gas futures pull further away from $3.00-level

U.S. natural gas futures edged lower for the second straight session on Wednesday, pulling further away from the key $3.00-level as market players looked ahead to weekly data from the U.S. on supplies in storage to gauge demand for the fuel.

U.S. natural gas for September delivery was at $2.916 per million British thermal units by 8:20AM ET (1220GMT), down 2.4 cents, or around 0.8%.

Futures ended lower on Tuesday, after touched their highest level since August 14 at $3.006, as near-term weather forecasts turned cooler.

A weather system with showers and cooling will sweep across the central and east-central U.S. through the end of the week, dropping demand to much lighter levels due to highs only reaching the 70s to lower 80s Fahrenheit.

Natural gas prices have closely tracked weather forecasts in recent weeks, as traders try to gauge the impact of shifting outlooks on late-summer cooling demand.

Nearly 50% of all U.S. households use gas for cooling.

Market participants now looked ahead to weekly storage data due on Thursday, which is expected to show a build in a range between 39 and 48 billion cubic feet in the week ended August 18.

That compares with a gain of 53 billion cubic feet in the preceding week, a build of 11 billion a year earlier and a five-year average rise of 53 billion cubic feet.

Total natural gas in storage currently stands at 3.082 trillion cubic feet, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 7.6% lower than levels at this time a year ago but 1.8% above the five-year average for this time of year.