May natural gas futures stumbled into expiration Wednesday as production held strong, mostly benign weather prevailed in forecasts, and analysts looked for an injection that would sustain storage surpluses.

At A Glance:

  • Analysts see 70s Bcf storage injection
  • Production holds strong into spring
  • Demand mixed by region and light overall

The May contract fell 19.0 cents day/day and settled at $2.117/MMBtu before rolling off the books. June lost 13.2 cents to $2.305. It takes over as the prompt month on Thursday.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. shed 9.0 cents to $2.155.

The May contract has mustered some momentum in recent sessions. However, it has struggled to sustain upward movement as natural gas production holds around or above 100 Bcf/d despite softer demand and prices...