With bone-chilling weather finally arriving in the Lower 48, the resulting surge in natural gas demand fueled massive gains across U.S. natural gas forward markets. 

The February natural gas contract rolled off the board Wednesday at an average 22.0 cents higher than where it started the Jan. 21-27 period. The incoming prompt-month March contract jumped 21.0 cents on average, according to NGI’s Forward Look.

Though questions remain about how long the chilly air may linger, and to what extent it may have on storage draws, robust liquefied natural gas (LNG) demand expected to continue through the summer sparked solid gains through the summer (April-October) and winter 2021-22 (November-March).

The double-digit gains along the forward curves were the culmination of three...