US Natural Gas Prices Drop to Six Week Low

July 9, 2026

U.S. natural gas futures fell about 4% to a six-week low on Thursday on expectations gas flows to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants will remain low through late August due to planned maintenance at Freeport LNG's plant in Texas, and after the release of a federal report showing last week's storage build was much bigger than expected.

Front-month gas futures for August delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 13.9 cents, or 4.3%, to $3.073 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), putting the contract on track for its lowest close since May 27.

Freeport LNG told Reuters in an email that it planned to start major maintenance at the plant from July 10 through late next month.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said energy firms added 61 billion cubic feet of gas to storage during the week ended July 3.

That was much bigger than the 49-bcf build analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and compares with an increase of 53 bcf during the same week last year and a five-year (2021-2025) average increase of 51 bcf for the period.

SUPPLY AND DEMAND:

Financial group LSEG said average gas output in the U.S. Lower 48 states slid to 109.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) so far in July, down from 110.0 bcfd in June and a monthly record high of 110.6 bcfd in December 2025.

Meteorologists forecast the weather would remain mostly warmer than normal through July 24, keeping the amount of gas power generators burn high as homes and businesses crank up air conditioners. About 40% of U.S. power generation comes from gas-fired plants.

LSEG projected average gas demand in the Lower 48 states, including exports, would slide from 109.8 bcfd this week to 109.1 bcfd next week. The forecast for next week was lower than LSEG's outlook on Wednesday.

Average gas flows to the nine big U.S. LNG export plants have risen to 17.8 bcfd so far in July, up from 17.4 bcfd in June, but remain below the monthly record high of 18.8 bcfd in April.

In other LNG news, the first 0.4-bcfd phase of Sempra Infrastructure/TotalEnergies' Energia Costa Azul plant in Mexico shipped its first cargo, which is destined for Asia.

Analysts have said gas consumers in California will compete with Costa Azul for gas supplies from the Permian shale in Texas and New Mexico.

	Week ended Jul 3 Actual	Week ended Jun 26 Actual	Year ago Jun 26	Five-year average (2021-2025) Jun 26
U.S. weekly natgas storage change (bcf):	+61	+87	+53	+51
U.S. total natgas in storage (bcf):	2,983	2,922	2,998	2,798
U.S. total storage versus 5-year average	+6.6%	+6.4%


Global Gas Benchmark Futures ($ per mmBtu)	Current Day	Prior Day	This Month Last Year	Prior Year Average 2025	Five-Year Average (2021-2025)
Henry Hub <NGc1>	3.19	3.21	3.30	3.62	3.79
Title Transfer Facility (TTF) <TRNLTTFMc1>	16.55	16.35	9.98	11.94	18.51
Japan-Korea Marker (JKM) <JKMc1>	16.51	16.18	12.53	12.24	18.12


LSEG U.S. Global Forecast System (GFS) Heating, Cooling and Total Degree Days
Two-Week Total Forecast	Current Day	Prior Day	Prior Year	10-Year Norm	30-Year Norm
U.S. GFS Heating Degree Days (HDD)	2	2	4	3	4
U.S. GFS Cooling Degree Days (CDD)	239	234	217	209	200
U.S. GFS Total Degree Days (TDD)	241	236	221	211	204

LSEG U.S. Weekly GFS Supply and Demand Forecasts
	Prior Week	Current Week	Next Week	This Week Last Year	Five-Year (2021-2025) Average for Month
U.S. Supply (bcfd)
U.S. Lower 48 Dry Production	110.5	109.5	110.2	106.2	101.4
U.S. Imports from Canada	7.2	7.4	7.0	N/A	8.2
U.S. LNG Imports	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Total U.S. Supply	117.7	116.9	117.3	N/A	109.6

U.S. Demand (bcfd)
U.S. Exports to Canada	2.2	2.3	2.3	N/A	2.3
U.S. Exports to Mexico	7.2	7.1	7.3	N/A	6.6
U.S. LNG Export Feedgas	17.8	17.3	17.6	15.8	11.0
U.S. Commercial	4.3	4.3	4.3	4.3	4.7
U.S. Residential	3.6	3.7	3.5	3.6	3.6
U.S. Power Plant	41.1	45.8	44.6	46.4	46.1
U.S. Industrial	21.7	21.6	21.6	22.2	21.8
U.S. Plant Fuel	5.5	5.4	5.4	5.4	5.3
U.S. Pipe Distribution	2.1	2.2	2.2	2.1	3.2
U.S. Vehicle Fuel	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.2
Total U.S. Consumption	78.3	83.1	81.8	84.1	84.9
Total U.S. Demand	105.5	109.8	109.1	N/A	104.8

N/A = Not Available

U.S. Northwest River Forecast Center (NWRFC) at The Dalles Dam (fiscal year ending September 30)	2026 Current Day % of Normal Forecast	2026 Prior Day % of Normal Forecast	2025 % of Normal Actual	2024 % of Normal Actual	2023 % of Normal Actual
Apr-Sep	83	83	76	74	83
Jan-Jul	90	90	78	76	77
Oct-Sep	93	93	80	77	76

U.S. weekly power generation percent by fuel - EIA
	Week ended July 10	Week ended July 3	2025	2024	2023
Wind	6	13	11	11	10
Solar	9	9	6	5	4
Hydro	5	5	6	6	6
Other	2	1	1	1	2
Petroleum	0	0	0	0	0
Natural Gas	43	39	40	42	41
Coal	19	17	18	16	17
Nuclear	17	17	18	19	19

SNL U.S. Natural Gas Next-Day Prices ($ per mmBtu)
Hub	Current Day	Prior Day	This Month Last Year	Prior Year Average 2025	Five-Year Average (2021-2025)
Henry Hub <NG-W-HH-SNL>	3.29	3.13	3.20	3.52	3.72
Transco Z6 New York <NG-CG-NY-SNL>	2.55	2.25	2.87	3.53	3.56
PG&E Citygate <NG-CG-PGE-SNL>	2.14	1.80	3.45	3.42	5.47
Eastern Gas (formerly Dominion South) <NG-PCN-APP-SNL>	2.48	2.28	2.61	2.79	2.96
Chicago Citygate <NG-CG-CH-SNL>	2.81	2.79	2.95	3.23	3.60
Algonquin Citygate <NG-CG-BS-SNL>	3.10	3.65	4.50	6.08	5.04
SoCal Citygate <NG-SCL-CGT-SNL>	3.06	2.94	3.70	3.60	5.71
Waha Hub <NG-WAH-WTX-SNL>	1.72	1.73	1.57	1.15	2.88
AECO <NG-ASH-ALB-SNL>	1.24	1.13	0.51	1.13	2.13

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) U.S. Power Next-Day Prices ($ per megawatt-hour)
Hub	Current Day	Prior Day	This Month Last Year	Prior Year Average 2025	Five-Year Average (2021-2025)
New England <E-NEPLMHP-IDX>	69.39	52.00	89.06	77.12	61.67
PJM West <E-PJWHRTP-IX>	126.82	72.38	87.25	60.23	54.47
Mid-Columbia (Mid C) <W-MIDCP-IDX>	31.82	31.55	52.17	44.81	68.96
Palo Verde <W-PVP-IDX>	41.57	36.68	48.82	34.82	59.94
South Path-15 (SP-15) <W-SP15-IDX>	26.53	23.79	33.95	28.44	53.02