North American natural gas prices continued their torrid surge this week, with expiring New York Mercantile Exchange prompt month prices on Wednesday surpassing the $9.00/MMBtu mark for the first time in 14 years.

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Bespoke analysts said the issue in the United States remains the lack of “significant, and sustainable, gains in production to ensure we reach a comfortable storage level this fall.” U.S. production has failed to gain momentum, while demand for gas is rising with warming temperatures amid record-setting liquefied natural gas (LNG) sendout.

Mexico imports are also rising, as is typical with this time of year. Mexico imported 5.77 Bcf via pipeline from the United States on Thursday, according to NGI calculations. 

“Demand is rising even with the heat and...