US natural gas futures extended losses for the fifth straight trading day on Monday, settling below the $2 mark amid milder weather forecasts and concerns about inventory surpluses.

“It didn’t help that last week’s EIA report missed a bearish result, a not hot enough pattern emerged last week, and the 8-15 day forecast period is not that scary,” and options and futures expiration this week also likely added to the downward pressure, NatGasWeather.com said, according to a Dow Jones report.

“Barring a massive change in the forecast, the summer cooling period could come to an early end,” with another four cooling degree days lost in the first week of September, “which will likely accelerate the start of the off-season in the central and eastern U.S.,” said Eli Rubin of EBW Analytics, also according to Dow Jones.

Nymex Natural Gas (NG1:COM) closed for September -3.2% to USD 1.956/MMBtu, the lowest settlement amount for the front-month contract in three weeks.

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The European benchmark for natural gas reversed an early decline after Russia said it had attacked gas compressor stations in western Ukraine with drones and missiles, rising as much as 2.5% before giving back gains. +0.9% at 37.20 €/MWh in Amsterdam.

According to the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe, European storage facilities are over 91 percent full, reaching the European Union’s 90 percent target more than two months early. However, the natural gas market has been sensitive to geopolitical events and outages this summer.