NEW YORK: US natural gas futures slid more than 3 percent early on Monday, pressured by milder weather in consuming regions this week and next after a week-long heat wave pushed regional power demand to record highs. "Overnight natural gas futures declined in moderate trading volume as weather forecasts indicating normal to below-normal temperatures across the East in the coming weeks weigh on the market," said Addison Armstrong, senior director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut. In addition, below-normal nuclear power plant outages and a quiet tropical front added more weight to the downside. As of 9:36 a.m. EDT (1336 GMT), front-month August natural gas futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange were at $3.665 per million British thermal units, down 12.4 cents, or more than 3 percent. The contract posted a four-week high of $3.835 late last week, after sliding to a nearly four-month low of $3.526 in late June. In the cash market, gas for Tuesday delivery at the NYMEX benchmark, Henry Hub in Louisiana, was heard down 6 cents at $3.71. Early deals were done at 5 cents over the sliding front month contract, compared with those done late Friday at a 3-cent premium. Gas on the Transco pipeline at the New York citygate was down 9 cents early at $3.81. Forecaster MDA Weather Services called for a cool week in the central United States in its one- to five-day forecast, with a map showing below-normal temperatures across most of the eastern half of the nation. The forecaster called for cool overall conditions in its six- to 10-day outlook, with normal or below-normal temperatures across the entire country. Last week's gas storage report from the US Energy Information Administration showed total domestic inventories rose the prior week by 58 billion cubic feet, below a Reuters poll estimate of a 64 bcf build and a five-year average gain of 70 bcf for that week. It was the first time in seven weeks that the weekly injection fell below average, and estimates show it could fall short again this week. Early injection estimates for this week's report range from 45 bcf to 60 bcf, compared with a 26 bcf build during the same week last year and a five-year average increase for that week of 53 bcf. Total inventories are at 2.745 trillion cubic feet, about 13 percent below last year's record-high level but only 1 percent below the five-year average. Nuclear plant outages on Monday totaled 3,700 megawatts, or 4 percent of US capacity, up from 3,200 MW out on Friday but well below the 9,300 MW out a year ago and a five-year average outage of about 5,100 MW. The US National Hurricane Center said no tropical storms were expected to form during the next 48 hours.

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