April Nymex natural gas futures extended gains Tuesday with bulls feeding on near-term weather forecasts that would support a bump in demand and a pullback in the widening of natural gas storage surpluses.

markets

At A Glance:

  • Futures add to prior gains
  • Demand boosted by chill
  • Cash gas up, Texas negative

The front-month contract settled 4.1 cents higher at $1.744/MMBtu after trading from $1.701 to $1.769. May futures, setting up to take the lead position, closed up 4.3 cents at $1.876.

NGI’s Daily Spot National Avg. was 10.0 cents higher day/day at $1.405. Strong gains were noted in West Texas, but prices still averaged in the negative after days of retreating amid healthy Permian Basin production and weak demand.

In the upcoming seven days, NatGasWeather forecasts systems...