Natural Gas Market Note | 02.20.2026
Prices stage a modest bounce ahead of the weekend.
Natural gas futures gained modest ground on Friday, with the prompt-month contract bouncing off of $3.00 support to finish 5 cents higher on the day. At one point in the early afternoon, it looked like the market was on track for more substantial gains, but momentum ultimately faded into settlement and the front of the curve finished about $0.10 per MMBtu off the intraday highs.
Outside of a brief cooldown in the East next week, temperature patterns are expected to come in overtly mild throughout the 14-day period. This will severely limit heating demand during the final stretch of winter and should lead to a series of relatively light storage draws to round out the season. With inventories sitting just above 2 Tcf as of February 13 with about 6 weeks left in the traditional withdrawal season, stocks are on track to find a bottom north of 1.8 Tcf. However, if mild weather continues to come to fruition, an end-of-season level above 1.9 Tcf is not off the table.
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