North American natural gas trading has been hijacked by bears, with prices moving lower this week on the back of a healthy supply and storage outlook.

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The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) futures contract for March is hovering around $2.500/MMBtu, its lowest point in almost two years. Last Friday (Jan. 27), the February Nymex natural gas futures contract rolled off the board at $3.109, closing the week down 2% after losing 7% the prior week.

At the Mexico Infrastructure Projects Forum in Monterrey last week, buyers of U.S. natural gas said they expected volatility to remain the name of the game. For example, buyers had expected elevated prices over the winter, only for the opposite to occur.

Frisa Steel’s Norma Rodriguez, natural gas purchaser for the Monterrey...