Natural gas futures are rising on Monday, surprising investors amid bearish developments for the so-called bridge fuel. Natural gas prices have been on a downward trend since peaking at $3.30 last month, and industry observers do not believe they have bottomed. But the performance over the last two sessions might raise some eyebrows.

May natural gas futures picked up $0.023, or 0.9%, to $2.589 per million British thermal units (btu) at 16:42 GMT on Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Natural gas is coming off a weekly loss of more than 2%, despite its March 19 rally of nearly 3%. Year-to-date, the energy commodity ups about 2%.

Weather models for the end of March and early April are pointing to sliding heating demand forecasts. Market analysts are projecting that natural gas demand could come in at 15.5 billion cubic feet per day.

Overall, looking at the industry outlook, weather-driven demand could subside over the next month, with expected increases in storage facilities. Long-term industry analysts think there is room for growth in the autumn and winter contracts.

For now, according to Bespoke Weather Services, the weather situation for natural gas is “as bearish as it can be at the moment.”

Recent reports have suggested that the US is about to face a record-breaking summer heatwave, with Texas bearing the brunt of higher temperatures.

In other sector news, new National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data found that China’s natural gas production surged 13.5% in January and February to 34.8 billion cubic meters. This represented a 22.5% jump compared to the same time in 2019. At the same time, natural gas imports advanced 17.4% year-over-year to 20.8 million tons in the first two months of 2021.

In other energy commodities, April West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures tumbled $0.26, or 0.42%, to $61.16 per barrel. May Brent crude futures declined $0.31, or 0.48%, to $64.22 a barrel. April gasoline futures added $0.0121, or 0.62%, to $1.9552 per gallon. April heating oil futures edged up by $0.0033, or 0.18%, to $1.8253 a gallon.