A steady stream of bitter winter storms barreled across the country this week, driving spot natural gas prices sharply higher for the Feb. 21-25 period. Despite an expected warm-up in the coming days that resulted in a late-week sell-off across most of the Lower 48, NGI’s Weekly Spot Gas National Avg. jumped 94.0 cents to $5.670/MMBtu.

Nymex futures remained volatile during the period, most notably after Russian forces moved in on Ukraine in a full-scale attack on the country. After a brief surge to within striking distance of $5.000, the March contract rolled off the board at $4.568. April settled at $4.470 in its debut at the front of the curve.

The late-week dip futures – in spite of continued uncertainties regarding Russia’s war on Ukraine – showed just how tightly...