The NYMEX January natural gas futures contract jumped 16.1 cents to settled at $4.488/MMBtu Friday as current and upcoming weather trumped a storage withdrawal that was largely in line with the five-year average. The front-month contract traded between $4.231/MMBtu and $4.57/MMBtu on Friday. The storage withdrawal of 63 Bcf in the week that ended November 30 put US gas inventories at 2.991 Tcf, according to the US Energy Information Administration, down 19% compared with a year earlier and at about a 20% deficit to the five-year average of 3.716 Tcf. The storage pull falls largely in line with the five-year average of 58 Bcf and also with the draw expected by a consensus of analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts Analytics. North American Gas Winter Outlook Webinar | 9-10 am CST Tuesday, December 18, 2018 […]