The December 2020 NYMEX natural gas contract settled at $2.896/MMBtu.
There is usually a dip in the natural gas market in the third week of December. However, as evidenced by the NYMEX Monthly Settlement History for 2010 to 2020 that does not always mean that the December settlement will be lower than the November settlement for any given year.
In 2020, the December 2020 NYMEX settlement history did evidenced the dip in the market by closing $0.10 (ten cents) lower than November 2020 NYMEX settlement price. The November 2020 NYMEX settled at $2.996/MMBtu. The 2020 average annual NYMEX natural gas settlement was $2.077/MMBtu. When looking back at the last 10 years, this was the lowest average annual settlement price.
Demand and warmer than expected temperatures were the two factors that drove the NYMEX natural gas prices lower.
This is another example of the volatility in the market. This is also even more reason why you need to work with an Energy Consultant that is closely monitoring the natural gas and electricity market daily and is able to identify opportunities to purchase your energy supply at the lowest possible price.