Natural gas posted a second straight week of sharp gains as an extended Arctic cold snap triggered extreme volatility across futures and cash markets. The February 2026 NYMEX contract expired near $7.50 per MMBtu after a historic late-month rally, while March and the rest of the forward curve continued to move higher as colder-than-normal conditions look set to linger into February. The prolonged cold tightened fundamentals through a combination of elevated demand, weather-related production disruptions, and temporary shifts in cross-border flows and LNG exports. While recent storage data only captured the early stages of the event, expectations for much larger withdrawals have rapidly reset end-of-winter inventory outlooks and reintroduced meaningful upside risk across the 2026 curve.
