Markets

Physical gas for Thursday delivery vaulted higher in Wednesday’s trading as cold and continued forecasts of temperatures as much as 20 degrees below normal at some market points kept buyers scrambling.

March natural gas is set to open 3 cents higher Tuesday morning at $2.83 as traders factor in forecast-busting continued cold over major energy markets and an strengthening technical picture. Overnight oil markets eased.

Physical gas for Wednesday delivery continued to surge in Tuesday’s trading as forecasts continued to call for unrelenting cold and snow.

March natural gas is called 4 cents lower Friday morning at $2.67 as near-term weather forecasts show a moderately warmer pattern over the West. Overnight oil markets rose.

As the oil and natural gas industry sheds workers in the headwinds of low commodities prices, the CEO of Targa Resources Partners LP (NGLS) said his company could be on the verge of doing the opposite once it completes its acquisition of two midstream units of Atlas Energy LP later this month.

Natural gas forwards basis markets were up across the board from Friday, Feb. 6, to Wednesday, Feb. 11, with the strongest gains seen in the high-demand regions of the U.S. Midwest and Northeast as forecasts showed plummeting temperatures and more snowfall over the next week, and longer-range outlooks were more convincing the cold would stick around.

It was a bifurcated market Friday as prices for the extended weekend for New England markets vaulted higher, fed by weather, pipeline restrictions and an extra day of market exposure.

March natural gas is set to open 4 cents higher Thursday morning at $2.84 as traders plug in colder temperature patterns to their forecasts and mull the likelihood of a thinner ending storage inventory by the end of the heating season. Overnight oil markets gained.

Natural gas futures worked lower after the release of government storage figures showing storage drawdowns to be somewhat less than trader expectations.