1026 ET - U.S. natural gas futures inch up in early trading. "Even though temperatures have been above average the past month, the increases in natural gas production along with maintenance backlogged in LNG demand has kept U.S. storage levels elevated," Dennis Kissler of BOK Financial says in a note. Traders are seeing the first half of August as "the last real demand time frame" with focus shifting to the milder fall temperatures, he adds. Nymex natural gas is up 0.2% at $2.688/mmBtu.