A shoulder season slump brought on partly by a run of ample storage builds saw natural gas forwards fall sharply during the Oct. 6-12 trading period, NGI’s Forward Look data show.

With the year-on-five-year-average inventory deficit shrinking fast, forcing a recalibration of the market’s winter risk assessment in the process, November fixed prices at most Lower 48 hubs sold off by 40 cents or more week/week.

Benchmark Henry Hub set the pace, with front month fixed prices dropping 49.5 cents to $6.440/MMBtu during the Oct. 6-12 period.

Nymex futures similarly experienced downward pressure during the period as the market processed the pricing implications of the outsized storage builds, and as early heating season forecasts failed to impress. The Oct. 6-12 period notably...