One day removed from choppy price action along the Nymex natural gas futures strip, May prices forged ahead midweek. With traders looking ahead to a smaller-than-normal increase in storage inventories, the prompt-month contract soared to a $7.005/MMBtu intraday high before settling Wednesday at $6.997, up 31.7 cents on the day. June futures rallied 33.3 cents to $7.096.

At A Glance:

  • Production remains soft
  • Late-season demand stalling storage rebuild
  • Spot gas rises on late-season demand

Spot gas prices also strengthened as cold, snowy conditions out West were heading east. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. climbed 16.0 cents to $6.525.

Futures prices were strong out of the gate Wednesday morning, with production remaining soft because of various maintenance events taking...