Bullish optimism, driven in part by lighter production, eclipsed concerns around mild April weather to send natural gas futures higher through midday trading Monday. Meanwhile, spot market sellers in West Texas can expect more pipeline congestion to deal with starting this week.

Here’s the latest:

  • May Nymex futures up 5.1 cents to $1.836/MMBtu as of 2:19 p.m. ET
  • Production estimated at 99.3 Bcf/d for Monday, versus recent seven-day average of 100.3 Bcf/d, per Wood Mackenzie data

Rallying futures Monday may have resulted from “seasonal buyers expecting tighter supplies in time due to lighter U.S. production that’s holding near 100 Bcf/d,” NatGasWeather said. Prices were climbing despite a number of bearish factors, including “massive surpluses” for Lower 48 storage,...