In what will likely go down as one of the wildest days in the natural gas market ever, cash markets stole the show on Friday. Gas buyers paid hundreds of dollars to meet what is expected to be record-setting heating demand over the four-day Presidents’ Day holiday weekend. Fueled by OGT’s $600/MMBtu record high, and similarly stout gains across much of the country, NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. soared $52.420 to $61.960.

OGT prices

Nymex futures, meanwhile, struggled to capture the same level of enthusiasm over the bitter cold penetrating the Lower 48. The March Nymex gas futures contract closed the week at $2.912, up only 4.4 cents from Thursday’s close. April climbed 4.0 cents to $2.876.

A handful of midstream companies had already begun reporting issues at some of their gas...