North American natural gas prices saw gains in four of the last five sessions amid signs of a tightening market.

On Thursday, the June North American Mercantile Exchange gas futures contract leapt 22.7 cents day/day to close at $2.592/MMBtu. July gained 20.6 cents to $2.715.

Last week, the Baker Hughes Co. rig count revealed a 16-rig decline in natural gas-directed drilling in the United States. Then on Thursday, the natural gas market was surprised by a lower than expected injection into U.S. storage, as reported by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

EBW Analytics Group analyst Eli Rubin said the rig count declines suggested a “wide ranging industry response to the natural gas price collapse to start 2023.”

Meanwhile, Thursday’s storage report “in an...