Natural-gas futures gained Monday as weather forecasts indicated stronger demand for the heating fuel in the next two weeks than previously expected. Natural gas for May delivery settled up 3.7 cents, or 0.8%, to $4.476 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. April typically represents a turning point for the natural-gas market, as demand falls enough to allow producers to begin refilling inventories after a winter of withdrawals. About half of U.S. households use natural gas as their primary heating fuel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Due to this winter’s unusually frigid weather, stockpiles are at 11-year lows. Supplies as of March 28 stood at 822 billion cubic feet, meaning that producers would need to inject about 3 trillion cubic feet of gas into storage by the end of October to meet last year’s pre-winter level. The EIA is […]