Weekly natural gas cash prices rose in the week as production cuts played catch-up with winter’s early demise in an attempt to balance markets and slow growing storage surpluses.

NGI’s Weekly Spot Gas National Avg. for the March 4-8 trading period rose 3.0 cents/MMBtu to $1.470. 

Bucking the trend higher, West Texas spot prices fell sharply in the week, depressed by weak demand and pipeline constraints amid a spate of maintenance that flipped prices negative early in the week.

Waha fell 55.0 cents week/week to average 4.0 cents, with its lowest traded value at a negative 90.0 cents. Transwestern slumped 58.5 cents to 1.5 cents. Prices in East and South Texas rose modestly, including the Houston Ship Channel, which was up 9.0 cents to $1.485.

In California, which led...