Oppressive heat and an anemic storage injection that fell far short of expectations powered natural gas futures higher much of Thursday, extending a rally and pushing the prompt month firmly above the $8 threshold.

At A Glance:

  • Production falls to 97 Bcf/d
  • Forecasts for mixed demand
  • NGI models draw of 41 Bcf

However, traders took profits late in the session and the August Nymex gas futures contract settled at $7.932, down 7.5 cents day/day. September shed 8.4 cents to $7.815.

The prompt month had soared 74.3 cents on Wednesday.  

Bulls roamed freely in cash markets across most of the country. But a pullback in Northeast prices following steep run-ups earlier this week dragged NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. down 44.0 cents to $8.370 on Thursday.

The see-saw futures...