Though long gone from the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Ida’s devastation continued across the eastern United States ahead of the Labor Day weekend, wiping out significant production and causing widespread power outages along the way. Supply’s slow expected recovery fueled bullish momentum across natural gas forward curves for the trading period ending Sept. 1, resulting in gains of about 41.0 cents for the October contract, according to NGI’s Forward Look.

The uncertainty regarding when production may return amplified concerns over storage inventories ahead of winter. The pace of injections this summer has left much to be desired, with inventories trailing historical levels even before the storm crashed ashore last Sunday (Aug. 29) near Port Fourchon, LA.

The tight supply...