The Energy Buyer's Guide | 12.22.2025

Natural gas futures continue to slide with unseasonable warmth on the way.

- Natural gas futures continued to slide, with the prompt-month January 2026 contract settling below the $4.00-per-MMBtu support level as winter risk premiums were further unwound.

- A brief early-week cold snap tightened fundamentals, but both the 6–10 and 8–14 day forecasts now point to widespread warmth and a sharp drop in heating demand through late December.

- Storage declined by 167 Bcf, narrowing the surplus to the five-year average to just 32 Bcf, though absolute inventory levels remain adequate heading into mid-winter.

- Spot natural gas and real-time power prices softened across most regions, with the largest pullbacks in the Northeast as cold-driven demand eased.