NEW YORK: US natural gas futures slid about 2% on Tuesday on a slow increase in output and forecasts for less demand over the next two weeks than previously expected even as a brutal heat wave blankets much of the country.

On its second to last day as the front-month, gas futures for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 4.5 cents, or 1.6%, to $2.766 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) at 9:18 a.m. EDT (1318 GMT).

Even though gas prices fell about 7% over the past two weeks, speculators last week boosted their net long futures and options positions on the New York Mercantile and Intercontinental Exchanges to their highest since April 2022 for a second week in a row, according to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Commitments of Traders report.