Nymex January natural gas futures ended a seesaw Thursday trading session modestly higher at $2.585/MMBtu. Futuresgarnered little fresh directional support in the withdrawal from natural gas inventories, which was larger than most expectations.

At A Glance:

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

The front-month contract tumbled early to a $2.489 intraday low and spiked to a $2.621 intraday high following the midmorning storage data release by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). However, it quickly reversed gains to settle up 1.6 cents. February futures traded from $2.436 to $2.555 and settled 0.11% higher at $2.520.

The NGI Spot National Avg. tumbled 73.0 cents to an average at $2.300. The Northeast once again led the daily...