The NYMEX February natural gas futures contract tumbled 12.1 cents to settle at $2.882/MMBtu on Monday, the lowest price since September 2012, as the market reacted to warmer mid-January weather forecasts. The contract had been in positive territory until about 1 pm EST (1800 GMT) before dipping sharply to settle below the New Year’s Eve close of $2.889/MMBtu. Monday’s settle is the lowest since September 24, 2012, when the prompt-month contract closed at $2.837/MMBtu. Gene McGillian, Tradition Energy senior analyst, said the earlier uptick in the February contract may have resulted from short-covering, while the late tumble reflected traders’ concerns over the fundamentals of the natural gas market this winter. “How much gas is coming out of the ground, the fact that cold weather is forecast for only the next week to 10 days … really doesn’t mark a turnaround for the selloff we’ve […]