Natural gas forward prices experienced yet another surge in the week before Hurricane Laura, a Category 4 storm packing 150 mph winds, made landfall, according to NGI’s Forward Look.

Louisiana Hurricane Laura Water levels

Double-digit gains were the norm outside of the Northeast and California, helped in part by surging global gas prices and a pullback in production ahead of the storm. However, with easing heat leading to steep declines on the coasts, September and October prices averaged only 4.0 cents higher for the Aug. 20-26 period, and smaller shifts were seen further out the forward curve.

Taking California and the Northeast out of the mix, the leg higher for U.S. forward markets mirrored the moves along the Nymex futures curve. On Wednesday, the September Nymex futures contract stood at $2.461, up about 11.0...