Bears gained the upper hand Tuesday as October took over the prompt position along the Nymex futures curve, with prices down sharply early in the session. With cooler weather on the horizon and an ongoing outage at a key LNG export terminal seen improving balances, the October Nymex contract settled 29.4 cents lower day/day at $9.042/MMBtu. November futures slid 29.7 cents to $9.103.

markets

At A Glance:

  • Production at 96.5 Bcf/d
  • Uneven weather outlook
  • Storage situation improves

Spot gas prices were mostly lower as well, except in California and parts of the Rockies. Cash prices in those regions continued to tack on gains amid widespread heat and strong demand. NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. slipped 11.0 cents to $8.865.

Though the hot near-term outlook for the West Coast is crystal...