Natural gas futures found firmer footing Wednesday as looming winter weather trumped vigorous production volumes and expectations for another government report showing stout supplies in storage.

At A Glance:

  • Lean storage draw expected
  • Mid-January freeze looms
  • Production remains elevated

Following a 5.4-cent gain to open regular trading for 2024 the day before, the February Nymex gas futures contract on Wednesday settled at $2.668/MMBtu, up 10.0 cents day/day.  

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. surged 53.5 cents to $3.015 ahead of storms projected to blanket parts of the East.

While Wood Mackenze pegged production at around 105 Bcf/d on Wednesday – near record levels reached in December – bitter cold temperatures that eluded the Lower 48 last month were finally poised to...