Natural Gas Market Note | 06.25.2026
July futures rally into options expiration.
Natural gas prices pushed higher on Thursday, with most of the strength focused at the front of the curve. In its second-to-last day of trading, the July 2026 contract added 12 cents to settle just above $3.34 per MMBtu, marking the highest daily settlement for any prompt-month contract since February. The late-day spike was likely due to position squaring around options expiration, with July relaxing immediately after settlement and falling back below $3.30 per MMBtu. The rest of the curve followed a similar trading pattern, though the move was less pronounced. Winter 2026-27 added 5 cents into settlement, but retreated back to roughly flat on the day in after-hours trading.
Temperature forecasts continue to point toward the strongest heat of the season across the eastern two-thirds of the country next week. This should promote new summer highs for peak load conditions across most ISOs and drive heavy natural gas demand for power generation. So far, this has only been enough to bring summer natural gas futures to the top of the recent trading range, with any breakout likely dependent on the ultimate intensity and duration of the heat wave.
Today’s storage report showed a 76-Bcf build into natural gas inventories. The build was essentially in line with the five-year average for the same week, while falling short of the 96-Bcf year-ago build. Inventories remain at a steady cushion to average levels, but the pace of storage growth continues to consistently lag 2025. Next week’s report should show a sizable injection before hot weather weighs more heavily on storage builds in the following weeks.
An archive of Daily Natural Gas Market Notes can be found here.