Natural gas futures jumped higher Tuesday afternoon after reports of a pipeline incident in Alberta broke up an otherwise quiet shoulder season day of trading.

At A Glance:

  • Production at 97.4 Bcf/d
  • Weak spring season demand
  • National Avg. back above $1

The May Nymex contract rose 4.1 cents day/day to settle at $1.732/MMBtu. Futures spiked higher around 2 p.m. ET without any immediate explanation. Market chatter soon turned to reports of an incident on TC Energy Corp.’s Nova Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL).

TC Energy confirmed it was “actively responding to an incident involving the NGTL natural gas system” about 25 miles northwest of Edson, Alberta. “The affected section of the pipeline has been isolated and shut down,” a spokesperson said.

The pipeline’s line...