Natural gas futures edged higher again on Wednesday, extending a rally to three days, as traders ultimately paid more attention to robust heating demand than the protracted shutdown of a key export facility and the likelihood of a relatively robust storage injection.

At A Glance:

  • Cold weather remains at forefront
  • Analysts expect large storage build
  • Freeport LNG relaunch in flux 

The December Nymex gas futures contract settled at $6.200/MMBtu, up 16.6 cents day/day. January gained 21.2 cents to $6.607.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. shed 1.0 cent to $6.160.

Futures trading Wednesday proved volatile, with prices hanging in the red much of the day before flipping higher late.

One bearish culprit: Freeport LNG released a statement after regular market hours Tuesday citing...