Forecasts Tease Extended January Warmth as Natural Gas Futures Slide Early

As updated forecasts hinted at longer lasting warmth to kick off 2023, natural gas futures were down sharply in early trading Wednesday. The expiring January Nymex contract was down 30.0 cents to $4.982/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET. February was off 27.5 cents to $4.843.

Weather data trended slightly warmer overnight during the Jan. 9-12 time frame, chipping away at demand expectations for a period that had been expected to bring a return to more seasonal temperatures following exceptional warmth to start 2023, according to NatGasWeather.

“Essentially, the overnight data suggested the warmer than normal pattern wouldn’t go easily,” NatGasWeather said. 

A sizable drop-off in production, down into the 80s Bcf/d range in recent days, failed to prevent February prices from...