As traders weighed bearish short-term fundamental factors against the potential for colder conditions to develop later in December, natural gas futures eased lower early Wednesday.

NGI Morning Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

As of around 8:45 a.m. ET, the January Nymex contract was down 5.6 cents to $7.179/MMBtu. February was off 3.5 cents to $7.049. 

A number of factors were weighing on prices early Wednesday, including the near-term weather-driven demand outlook, according to EBW Analytics Group.   

“In our view, the combination of near-term warmth, an uptick in production, soft physical pricing and lackluster withdrawals into early December is restraining upward price momentum near-term,” EBW analyst Eli Rubin told clients. “In addition, increasing prospects for federal intervention into the ongoing railroad...