North American natural gas prices crossed the $8.00/MMBtu handle this week as blazing hot weather strained power demand.

Mexico imports

The August New York Mercantile Exchange gas futures contract surged 74.3 cents day/day on Wednesday and settled at $8.007/MMBtu. A lighter than expected storage injection on Thursday again sent prices higher.

This month the United States is on pace to rank among the top three hottest Julys on record, Bespoke Weather Services said. Meanwhile exports are strong, in particular to Europe where Russia’s war on Ukraine means the continent is facing gas rationing heading into the winter.

Mexico imports of natural gas via pipeline were 5.68 Bcf/d on Thursday and the 10-day average was 5.71 Bcf/d, according to NGI calculations. These figures do not include...