Natural gas surged Tuesday afternoon as more optimistic demand forecasts and data showing falling production are chasing bears from the market. Prices for the front-month June contract gained 4.9 cents, or 1.9%, to $2.698 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It is the second straight winning session and gas rallied more than 3.5% intraday after it fell to $2.606/mmBtu just after noon. Weather models grew slightly warmer in their midday updates, which built up expectations for gas demand at power plants that are feeding air conditioners, meteorologists said. It wasn’t a big change, but many traders are already nervous and the change likely pushed some to cover their bets, said Marc Kerrest, a trader in San Francisco. “It wasn’t that impressive, but it seemed like that was driving things along,” said Matt Rogers at Commodity Weather Group LLC in Bethesda, Md. […]