Natural gas prices drifted lower early Monday and held there as traders assessed evolving weather patterns and the potential for storage injections against flat production and ongoing robust demand for U.S. exports.   

storage

At A Glance:

  • Production falls to 97 Bcf/d
  • Forecasts for mixed demand
  • NGI models draw of 41 Bcf

The April Nymex gas futures contract settled at $5.508/MMBtu, down 6.3 cents day/day. May shed 7.3 cents to $5.538.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. climbed 24.5 cents on Monday to $5.520, led higher by price advances in the Northeast.

Analysts expected volatility early this week with options expiration on Monday and the April contract’s expiry Tuesday. Choppy trading ahead of expiration proved common in 2021 and early this year, as have rallies slightly ahead of...