Only four days in, and August is full of surprises – this time a whopper of a storage report that sent natural gas futures tumbling as much as 44 cents lower day/day. Bulls bought the dip, however, and the September Nymex gas futures contract settled Thursday at $8.122/MMBtu, off only 14.4 cents from Wednesday’s close.

Storage Report

At A Glance:

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

Spot gas prices were mixed, with big swings in both directions amid continued widespread heat. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. climbed 22.5 cents to $8.165.

Barely catching a breath after Freeport LNG announced it had reached an agreement with federal regulators on initial operations at the liquefied natural gas export facility, traders got word early Thursday...