Save for later Print Download Share LinkedIn Twitter December natural gas futures jumped 47.3¢, or more than 7%, on Monday to $6.776 per million Btu, prompted not only by unusually strong early winter heating demand but the renewed threat that a railroad worker strike could interrupt coal shipments to power plants. But how either of these factors will play out isn’t clear. Congress could intervene to avert a strike, and forecasts are fairly clear that the cold wave should begin to abate by the weekend. The 12-month strip rose 23¢ to $5.633; the 2023 calendar strip was up 19.8¢ to $5.545 (Futures contracts).
