Natural gas prices exploded higher during the Dec. 12-16 trading period amid the first intimidating cold blast to hit the Lower 48 since the start of winter. With production curtailments to boot because of wellhead freeze-offs, NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. jumped $4.070 to $11.645.

Natural gas futures ended the week in positive territory – barely – as wild swings occurred throughout the week with seemingly every run of the weather models. At Friday’s close, the January Nymex gas futures contract settled at $6.600, up only 1.3 cents from Monday’s settlement. Notably, the prompt month had surged as high as $7.105 earlier in the week.

With frigid air penetrating the West Coast resulting in continued solid gas demand, massive price spikes continued throughout the region...