Despite Impressive Cold in Forecasts, ‘No Difference’ in Natural Gas Futures Early

Even as the latest forecasts continued to show impressively colder-than-normal temperatures reaching the Lower 48 over the next two weeks, natural gas futures traded stubbornly close to even early Thursday. The March Nymex contract was up 1.8 cents to $2.807/MMBtu at around 8:45 a.m. ET.

After overnight runs from the major weather models the forecast remained “solidly cold and bullish” early Thursday, according to NatGasWeather. The Global Forecast System added 2 heating degree days (HDD), while the European model lost 6 HDD.

The European model’s outlook was “still quite frosty overall, with the HDD forecast to be a massive 77 HDD colder versus normal for the coming 15 days,” the firm said.

Coming against a backdrop of a tight supply/demand balance, the price...