Natural gas prices hovered in a narrow range early Thursday but spiked after a bullish government inventory report and customary buying into prompt-month expiration. The February Nymex gas futures contract settled at $6.265/MMBtu, up $1.988 day/day. It rolled off the books at the close. March, which takes over as the front month, climbed 24.7 cents to $4.283.

At A Glance:

  • Production falls to 97 Bcf/d
  • Forecasts for mixed demand
  • NGI models draw of 41 Bcf

The February contract topped $7.00 intraday. That easily eclipsed any session high to date in 2022. Futures had traded to a seven-week high of $4.879 on Jan. 12 and a seven-year high of $6.466 last Oct. 6.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. gained 6.0 cents to $6.315. A winter storm was on track to smother parts of the East Coast...