North American natural gas futures limped along this week as shoulder season settles in and demand fails to meet ample supply.

Waha

On Thursday, the May New York Mercantile (Nymex) gas futures contract settled 8.6 cents lower at $2.007/MMBtu. June futures slid 7.0 cents to $2.197.

Longer term, the natural gas market in Mexico and the United States is turning its attention to the hotter summer months, where power burns rise as cooling demand jumps. With natural gas in the power stack rising in both Mexico and the United States, this could have a positive impact on pricing.

Analysts suggested that with robust LNG output in the United States, cooling demand may result in higher prices as soon as next month.

In terms of pricing, “it’s not clear if we’ve reached the lowest...