On the cusp of the winter season’s first widespread cold snap, natural gas prices for January baseload were a mixed bag during the bidweek trading period from Dec. 27-29. Propelled by hefty premiums on the West and East coasts, which countered $1.00-plus losses elsewhere across the country, NGI’s January Bidweek National Avg. climbed 18.5 cents to $6.075.

Although the $6.00 handle is rather impressive on its own, most U.S. locations priced in the $3.00-4.00 range for January 2022 baseload gas delivery after recording steep declines of more than $1.00 month/month. Henry Hub January plunged $1.455 to average $4.005.

Nevertheless, the January 2022 bidweek average was a stout $3.380 higher than January 2021 bidweek prices. A year ago, gas prices were under pressure from...