Natural gas futures struggled to maintain momentum early Friday as traders tried to determine whether liquefied natural gas (LNG) and weather demand would be enough to ward off a toppling of storage inventories by the end of October. 

NGI Evening Natural Gas Price & Markets Coverage

With an increasingly chillier weather pattern emerging for the end of the month, the November Nymex gas futures contract took off midday, but then retreated to settle the day at $2.773, off two-tenths of a cent. December climbed 1.0 cent to $3.271.

Spot gas prices moved lower on soft weekend demand. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. fell 8.5 cents to $1.995.

With LNG demand not yet able to reach its full potential because of restrictions preventing deep draft traffic in the Calcasieu Ship Channel following Hurricane Delta, weather has become...