A futures contract for natural gas delivery in August 2026 expires today, July 29, 2026, according to CME Group, the exchange where these contracts trade. The day before, it settled at $2.662 per MMBtu — the standard unit for measuring natural gas, roughly equal to the energy in about 8 gallons of gasoline. Meanwhile, the price for natural gas delivered right now (called the "spot price") was $2.69 per MMBtu on July 29, down 0.23% for the day and down 17.72% over the past month, per Trading Economics.

A 0.23% daily dip is small. A 17.72% drop over roughly 20 trading days is not. And there was no single obvious event driving it.

Now the market's attention shifts to the September 2026 contract, which becomes the most actively traded near-term contract. CME's calendar page, last updated July 28, lists it at a price of 2.697, down $0.004 or 0.15%, with only 1,225 contracts traded — a low number. One thing to watch: CME's own pages show slightly different prices for the same September contract, ranging from 2.697 to 2.763. The calendar page figure is the most recently updated.

Here's where it gets interesting. While today's price is low, the prices for natural gas delivered months from now are much higher. CME's Futures Quotes page shows the following: August at 2.742, September at 2.763, October at 2.799, November at 3.014, and December at 3.731. The December price is about $0.99 higher than August's — a 36% premium. Think of it like buying firewood in July versus November: the closer you get to when people actually need it, the more it costs.

The jump from November to December alone is $0.717, or about 24%. That makes sense because winter is when natural gas demand spikes for heating. But whether that premium is the right size depends on factors the available data does not capture: how much gas is in storage, how much LNG (liquefied natural gas shipped overseas) is being consumed, and what the weather does in the coming months.

On the options side (contracts that give the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell at a set price), the August 2026 option expired on July 28, one day before the futures contract — standard practice for this market.

The rest of the 2026 contracts expire roughly monthly: September's contract expires August 27, October's expires September 28, and November's expires October 28, per CME's calendar. The July 2026 contract expired June 26.

The broader context here is about what this price gap means for different people. Gas producers who want to lock in a price for winter delivery can get $3.731 for December — far more than today's sub-$2.70 price. Utilities and consumers face the flip side: the same price curve suggests their costs could rise sharply between fall and winter.

The steeper the winter premium grows compared to today's price, the more it makes sense to buy gas now, store it, and save it for later — assuming the cost of storing it doesn't eat up the savings. That's the calculation the market is quietly making.