Natural gas futures prices could not regain their footing Friday after the latest government storage report sounded a clarion of potential oversupply and set off a bear stampede.

At A Glance:

  • Prompt month falls to $2.960
  • Warm December outlooks, stout supply weigh
  • Texas leads cash prices lower

The December Nymex natural gas futures contract settled at $2.960/MMBtu, down 10.2 cents day/day. It marked the first close below $3 in three weeks and amounted to a roughly 20-cent drop since Thursday’s 10:30 a.m. ET storage print. January shed 10.8 cents to $3.131.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. dropped too, falling 26.0 cents to $2.670. Sharp declines in Texas, the West and other regions more than offset weather-driven gains in the East. 

The U.S. Energy Information...