Natural Gas Futures Drop as Freeport LNG’s Rolling Outages Stymie Demand; Cash Extends Gains

Natural gas futures fell Friday, tripped up by warmer forecasts for late March and additional work at the Freeport LNG terminal that could offset volume gains from a restart of its third train.

At A Glance:

• Production at 100.8 Bcf/d
• National Avg. gains for second day
• Freeport LNG inspections offset restart

The April Nymex contract fell 8.6 cents/MMBtu day/day to settle at $1.655. 

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. rose 6.0 cents to $1.205, led by gains in the East.

“Prices are back lower today, aided by massive surpluses, the potential for Freeport to underperform a while longer, and warmer overnight trends” for late March forecasts, according to NatGasWeather.

Overnight updates to weather models trended warmer, indicating cold air could retreat to Canada in late...