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Setting a different tone than the prior front-month contract, May natural gas futures in their first regular session action on Tuesday probed higher price levels, recording a high of $3.990 before closing the day at $3.973, up 5.7 cents from Monday’s finish.

Front-month natural gas futures spent their second consecutive day below $4 as traders continued to come to the realization that the United States might be working its way into an oversupplied situation. One day ahead of expiration, the April contract reached a low of $3.863 on Friday before closing at $3.872, down 10.9 cents from Thursday’s close and 29.7 cents lower than the previous week’s finish.

Front-month natural gas futures spent their second consecutive day below $4 as traders continued to come to the realization that the United States might be working its way into an oversupplied situation. One day ahead of expiration, the April contract reached a low of $3.863 on Friday before closing at $3.872, down 10.9 cents from Thursday’s close and 29.7 cents lower than the previous week’s finish.

Soaring Northeast gains that topped $4 in Transco’s two Zone 6 pools were way out in front of an across-the-board run of higher prices Friday. The weekend blizzard stretching from the Mid-Atlantic into the lower Northeast, along with forecasts of sub-freezing lows in the Midwest, Rockies, Canada and even parts of the South, were chiefly responsible for the firmness.

Soaring Northeast gains that topped $4 in Transco’s two Zone 6 pools were way out in front of an across-the-board run of higher prices Friday. The weekend blizzard stretching from the Mid-Atlantic into the lower Northeast, along with forecasts of sub-freezing lows in the Midwest, Rockies, Canada and even parts of the South, were chiefly responsible for the firmness.

Taking its cue from the January contract’s negative expiration on Tuesday, February natural gas futures in their first regular session action as the front-month contract dropped 13.1 cents Wednesday to close at $5.709.

Cash points across the United States and Canada continued to surge higher Tuesday backed by a significant cold-front surge that began in the West and is making its way across the Midwest and Upper Great Lakes.

The first taste of cold and snow in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions this past weekend combined with another cold front on Monday in the West to help give natural gas futures bulls some traction as the January contract shot 38.5 cents higher on Monday to close at $4.971.

Bolstered by an arctic front swooping through the eastern half of the United States, natural gas futures found some support on Friday as the January contract reached a high of $4.676 before closing the regular session at $4.586, up 12.7 cents from Thursday’s close.