Natural gas markets edged down today as options expired for the NYMEX front-month (Dec-25) contract. Traders are shifting their liquidity into later months, with the Jan-26 and March-26 contracts now holding the largest open interest. In its penultimate trading day, the front month fell $0.03 USD/MMBtu (0.7%) to settle at $4.549 USD/MMBtu. The remaining winter months (Jan-26, Feb-26, and Mar-26) all dipped $0.07 USD/MMBtu. Forecasts continue to show signs of a cold start to December.

Temperatures are expected to remain near normal until November 26th, before plummeting well below normal over the next two weeks. Alberta is expected to be particularly cold, with temperatures reaching below -15°C in the first week of December. Ontario is also forecasted to be below normal; however, the temperature is only expected to reach as low as -6°C. (PB)