The extraordinarily harsh blast of frigid temperatures blanketing much of the Lower 48 crippled power grids and sent natural gas spot prices soaring on Tuesday, extending a surge that began the previous week. Futures also jumped Tuesday amid widespread reports of rolling blackouts and production freeze-offs.

Breaking News

According to Tuesday’s MidDay Price Alert, NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. was up $21.315 to $86.745, with prices at OGT in Oklahoma shooting as high as $999.000/MMBtu and averaging $918.625, up $544.105. Earlier this month, OGT was trading below $3.00.

In Texas, prices at midday were up $238.835 to $400.000 at Houston Ship Channel, and ahead $55.280 to $204.680 at the Waha hub.

The March Nymex futures contract settled Tuesday at $3.129/MMBtu, up 21.7 cents...