Roses are red and so were natural gas futures on Friday as selling action continued along the Nymex curve. A steadily warming February forecast proved too much for bulls to overcome, with the rising temperatures likely preventing a much deeper drawdown of storage inventories heading toward the end of the traditional withdrawal season. The March Nymex contract closed out the week at $3.941/MMBtu, off 1.8 cents on the day. April slipped only eight-tenths of a cent to $3.935.

At A Glance:

  • Production falls to 97 Bcf/d
  • Forecasts for mixed demand
  • NGI models draw of 41 Bcf

Spot gas prices, however, managed to move back into the black as a strong winter storm moved into the Lower 48. Led by $10-plus gains in the Northeast, NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. climbed 94.0 cents to...