With winter overstaying its welcome in the Lower 48, weekly spot natural gas prices charged higher as gas demand increased during the two-day trading period from March 31-April 1, which covered gas deliveries through April 4. Price gains were stout across the country, driving NGI’s Weekly Spot Gas National Avg. up 57.5 cents to $5.285.

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Nymex natural gas futures also continued to strengthen amid the ongoing war in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion in late February. The continued call on U.S. supplies – along with weather-driven demand and lagging production growth – sent the May Nymex contract to $5.720 by Friday, up 18.2 cents from Monday’s close.

With last week’s dramatic warm-up likely leading storage operators to flip their facilities to injection mode, the cash...