Natural gas futures retreated Friday, ending five days of frenzied rallying, as markets assessed an increase in production and traders took profits. The June Nymex gas futures contract fell 74.0 cents day/day and settled at $8.043/MMBtu. July dropped 71.3 cents to $8.128.

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At A Glance:

  • Traders take profits
  • Production inches ahead
  • Demand drivers loom large

The prompt month, which reached $8.783 on Thursday, still finished the week up 11%.

Following a frenetic rally of its own this week, NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. dipped 1.5 cents to close at $7.985 on Friday.

Production, after hovering as low as 93 Bcf this week – far from highs above 96 Bcf earlier in the year – was back to around 95 Bcf on Friday, according to Bloomberg’s estimate. This provided some relief...