North American natural gas prices displayed extreme volatility this week amid a continued lack of clarity over where U.S. production is headed.

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After breaking through the $8.00/MMBtu mark on Monday, the May Nymex gas futures contract settled Wednesday at $6.937/MMBtu, down 23.9 cents from Tuesday’s close. June futures slid 21.2 cents to $7.065.

The market is “crazy with all the variations we’ve seen,” a gas trader in Mexico City told NGI’s Mexico GPI. He said it was hard to gauge where the market was headed. “No one wants to hedge right now. There isn’t a clear visibility of what’s happening.”

Mexican imports of U.S. gas have declined over the past two weeks, although this is also typical for the period around Easter. Mexico imported 5.01 Bcf via pipeline on...