Natural gas futures strengthened for the second day in a row, this time on what forecasters said was the potential for a “material change” in the weather pattern before the new year begins. The January Nymex gas futures contract settled Wednesday at $3.815/MMBtu, up 10.7 cents day/day. February climbed 10.0 cents to $3.774.

At A Glance:

  • Production falls to 97 Bcf/d
  • Forecasts for mixed demand
  • NGI models draw of 41 Bcf

Spot gas prices also continued to rise across most of the country. However, massive losses on the East Coast sent NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. down 36.0 cents to $4.200.

Though futures prices started the week off in positive territory, Monday’s gains were seen as more of a technical correction after the extensive sell-off in prior sessions. European gas...