Less Cooling Seen Later This Month as Natural Gas Futures Add to Losses Early

As updated forecasts weakened a cooler shift for the eastern Lower 48 expected to bring more seasonal weather-driven demand later this month, natural gas futures extended their losses in early trading Friday.

After shedding 11.0 cents in the previous session, the April Nymex contract was down another 5.1 cents to $1.767/MMBtu at around 8:40 a.m. ET.

Weather models overnight showed less cold for northern portions of the country heading into the back half of March, an “important” stretch of the forecast when cooler temperatures are poised to develop over key markets, according to NatGasWeather.

“The overnight data continued to show cooler weather systems tracking into the northern and eastern U.S. March 18-23, with highs of 30s to 50s for seasonal demand,” NatGasWeather...