Natural gas futures were little changed during a thin Friday trading session. The energy commodity is seeking to add to its end-of-year gains as prices recover from the paucity of gains observed earlier in 2024. Is $4 possible heading into 2025?

January natural gas futures dipped $0.023, or 0.62%, to $3.692 per million British thermal units (Btu) at 14:51 GMT on Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Natural gas prices will register a weekly gain of about 10% and a December increase of about 17%. Year-to-date, natural gas is on track for a weekly boost of 62%.

According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), domestic natural gas inventories declined by 93 billion cubic feet for the week ending Dec. 20, down from the previous week’s withdrawal of 125 billion cubic feet. This fell short of the consensus forecast of 99 billion cubic feet.

The drawdown was broad-based, with the Midwest (negative 47 billion cubic feet) and the East (negative 30 billion cubic feet) leading the decline.

Currently, US natural gas supplies total 3.529 trillion cubic feet, which is 14 billion cubic feet more than last year. This figure also exceeds the five-year average by 166 billion cubic feet.

Traders will be paying close attention to weather forecasts in January.

Recent outlooks suggest that January could be colder than average in the Northeast, which accounts for a sizable share of home heating demand.

“Risk for a modest cold snap through at least the first half of January is low-medium (20-50%) as the polar vortex remains strong,” the National Weather Service reported right before Christmas.

In other energy commodities, January West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures jumped $0.59, or 0.85%, to $70.21 per barrel. February Brent crude futures advanced $0.55, or 0.75%, to $73.40 a barrel. January gasoline futures were flat at $1.965 a gallon. January heating oil futures advanced $0.0352, or 1.59%, to $2.2447 per gallon.