The natural gas market remains choppy, with recent strength concentrated at the front of the curve as lingering southern heat and another widespread heat wave support near-term demand. Despite two relatively small storage builds, inventories remain healthy overall, with much of the recent tightening driven by South Central salt-storage draws rather than broad-based weakness. Production has climbed back near record levels, LNG feedgas is recovering above 19 Bcf/d, and power burn has strengthened in August, but winter pricing remains near multi-year lows, suggesting the market still views the current heat as a near-term issue rather than a major threat to winter supply.
