Bitter Winter Weather Fuels $100 Midcontinent Natural Gas Prices, Record Heating Demand

• Deep freeze slams U.S., drives massive gains in spot market
• Futures turn blind eye to cold as storage data disappoints
• Widespread production freeze-offs likely

Unfazed by the tumultuous weather pattern circulating throughout much of the United States for the next week or so, natural gas futures closed Thursday with a whimper. A big bearish miss on the latest storage data sealed March Nymex futures’ fate early in the session, with the contract ultimately slipping 4.3 cents to $2.868/MMBtu. April dropped 4.3 cents to $2.836.

Instead, cash prices stole the show on Thursday, and not in the way they often do this time of year. With freezing drizzle and light snow falling in the Midcontinent, next-day gas in the region soared as high as $100.000. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg....