Natural Gas Market Note | 04.23.2026
Natural gas futures give up all recent gains.
Natural gas prices posted their biggest move in two weeks, with the prompt-month contract falling nearly 11 cents to erase all of the recent gains. The daily trading range at the front of the curve was also the widest since March 31, with more than 17 cents separating the intraday highs and lows for the May 2026 contract, which settled near $2.61 per MMBtu. Losses were most pronounced in the balance-of-summer strip, while Winter 2026-27 and beyond gave up only marginal ground on the day.
Today’s storage report weighed on the market. The 103-Bcf build was the largest on record for this early in the season and reflected a week of very low weather-related demand. Consumption across all domestic sectors was near seasonal minimums during the report week, offsetting any impact from weaker net supply.
Domestic production has been depressed compared to recent highs due to seasonal maintenance as LNG export facilities have continued to operate near capacity. This dynamic has so far been masked by historically mild April temperature patterns, but if net supply continues to run south of year-ago levels deeper into the summer, it will start to have a material impact on the pace of storage growth.
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