Natural gas futures floundered for a third day, closing down modestly Friday as mild March weather and growing storage surpluses kept bulls on the back foot.

At A Glance:

  • Nymex front-month falls for third day
  • March forecasts point to cooldown
  • Surpluses could grow to 650-700 Bcf

The April Nymex contract settled at $1.805/MMBtu, down 1.3 cents day/day. The contract had swooned late Thursday after close and bounced Friday morning off a low of $1.755. 

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. fell 5.0 cents to $1.420. California prices led the way lower. West Texas prices got chopped down to trade in the teens, but with all hubs managing to avoid a repeat of the early week flip to negative.

A 40 Bcf withdrawal storage print for the week ended March 1 on Thursday put gas in working...