Weeks away from the official start of the winter season in the natural gas market, futures traders brushed off the latest government inventory data in favor of coming cold and, perhaps, in sympathy with higher commodity markets. The November Nymex natural gas futures contract settled Thursday at $6.741/MMBtu, up 30.6 cents on the day. December futures rose 28.7 cents to $7.053.

At A Glance:

  • Production at 96.5 Bcf/d
  • Uneven weather outlook
  • Storage situation improves

Natural gas cash prices retreated across the United States but were stronger north of the border in Canada. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. fell 26.0 cents to $5.535.

Based on Thursday’s price action along the Nymex futures curve, traders may be getting accustomed to the triple-digit storage builds that have hit...