Natural gas futures faltered on Friday as weather forecasts for the week ahead and a storm in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) presented the specter of demand loss. The overhang of a strange government inventory report and Federal Reserve policymakers’ nod toward higher interest rates also cast shadows over the market at the close of the trading week.

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At A Glance:

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

The July Nymex contract settled at $3.215/MMBtu, down 3.8 cents day/day. August fell 3.9 cents to $3.236.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. shed 5.5 cents to $3.080.

On the weather front, both the American and European weather models added cooling degree days (CDD) Friday for the week ahead. However, NatGasWeather said the pattern for...