With the scorching temperatures the South Central United States is used to seeing in the summer finally starting to build, and production lagging recent highs, August natural gas forward prices soared 32.0 cents on average during the trading period ending July 21, according to NGI’s Forward Look.

Price gains were just as impressive for the winter strip (November 2021-March 2022) as the lack of producers’ response to the higher price environment could leave storage inventories ahead of winter at insufficient levels. Absent an increase in drilling activity by public exploration & production (E&P) companies, strong winter demand in the United States and overseas could propel prices to levels not seen in years.

On its second quarter 2021 earnings call held Thursday, oilfield...