Natural gas futures extended their gains on Monday as weather models continued to show cold over much of the Lower 48 for early to mid-March and Freeport LNG stayed on its path toward full operations. With some nascent technical momentum also in play, the newly prompt April Nymex natural gas contract settled at $2.731/MMBtu, up 18.3 cents from Friday. May futures climbed 15.2 cents to $2.853.

At A Glance:

  • Storage set to swell further
  • Production seen softening
  • Cash mixed on lingering cold 

Spot natural gas prices strengthened across most of the country, but the West Coast and Northeast plunged dramatically after the latest winter storm exited those regions. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. ultimately fell 91.5 cents to $3.445.

Despite the steep sell-off in some cash markets on...