Upcoming contract expirations and some wintry weather in the forecast fueled a massive recovery for natural gas futures on Monday. The January Nymex futures contract settled at $4.060/MMBtu, up 32.9 cents from last Thursday’s close. The February contract jumped 31.2 cents to $3.942.

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At A Glance:

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

Spot gas prices were a mixed bag at the start of the week amid some pockets of cold weather in the West and Midwest. However, with huge losses in the Northeast, NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. ultimately rose only 4.0 cents to $4.045.

With trading volumes at only a fraction of normal levels this holiday week – less than 34,000 January contracts were traded – volatility has been rampant given the...