Natural gas prices spiked on Friday by nearly 9%, even as the weekly storage report showed little movement. Natural gas prices hit $2.367 by 2:26 pm EDT, an increase of 8.48% or $0.185, even as the EIA’s weekly storage report a day earlier showed a small increase of 58 Bcf in working gas in storage. The market had anticipated a larger build. Also bullish for natural gas on Friday were forecasts for hot weather and reports of increased LNG exports. Front-month natural gas futures on Friday hit their highest since the end of last year on this data as air conditioning usage is expected to increase as people try to cope with the heat wave. This will increase the demand for natural gas. This will be particularly true in Texas , where demand for power in general—and consequently natural gas—is expected to hit a record high today as the […]