DHHNGSP: Henry Hub Natural Gas Daily Spot Price in USD/MMBtu (1997–2026)
DHHNGSP is the FRED daily Henry Hub natural gas spot price in USD per MMBtu since 1997. The canonical US natural gas reference for NYMEX futures, LNG export pricing, and electricity dispatch.
DHHNGSP is the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED) identifier for the Henry Hub Natural Gas Spot Price, published on behalf of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) in USD per million British thermal units (MMBtu). The daily DHHNGSP series runs since January 1997 and is the canonical US natural gas reference, used by NYMEX futures settlement, LNG export pricing contracts, and electricity dispatch models. It captures the spot price at the Sabine Pipe Line Company’s Henry Hub in Erath, Louisiana — the most liquid US natural gas trading hub and the physical delivery point for the NG futures contract.
Dataset: Natural Gas Price — Henry Hub (1997–2026) · Updated 2026-07-27
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Source: FRED series DHHNGSP · Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Macro Takeaway
DHHNGSP is among the most volatile commodity prices in the FRED database — its coefficient of variation exceeds that of WTI crude oil. The 2008–2015 shale revolution structurally broke the price from its pre-shale $6–8/MMBtu average to a $2–4/MMBtu range, making US natural gas the cheapest in the developed world and driving the coal-to-gas shift in electricity generation that took the US from net gas importer to net LNG exporter by 2016.
Extreme spikes remain possible: DHHNGSP exceeded $9/MMBtu in August 2022 following the Russia–Ukraine energy shock, while Dutch TTF (the European benchmark) briefly touched $80/MMBtu equivalent. The structural question is whether growing US LNG export capacity gradually reconnects DHHNGSP to higher global benchmarks — eliminating the domestic price discount that has underpinned US industrial competitiveness. Triangulated with the Brent crude oil price and the US dollar index places gas price moves in their broader energy-and-currency regime.
Dataset Overview
| Indicator | Natural Gas Price — Henry Hub |
|---|---|
| Geography | United States |
| Frequency | Daily |
| Period | 1997–2026 |
| Variables | date, natgas_price_usd |
| Format | CSV, Excel (XLSX) |
| Sources | FRED series DHHNGSP — Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (underlying data from US EIA) |
| Last updated | — |
Dataset Variables
The CSV and Excel files contain the following columns.
| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
date | Date | Observation date |
natgas_price_usd | Float | Henry Hub natural gas spot price in USD per million BTU — the US energy benchmark for electricity generation, heating, and LNG exports. |
Column names match the CSV headers exactly.
Download the Complete Dataset
The full dataset is available in CSV and Excel formats.
FRED Direct CSV Access
The raw data is available via FRED under code DHHNGSP:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.csv?id=DHHNGSP
The Eco3min version provides a clean, analysis-ready format with consistent column names, pre-calculated derived metrics where applicable, and both CSV and Excel downloads.
Direct CSV Access — Eco3min Structured Dataset
https://eco3min.fr/dataset/natural-gas-price.csv
This URL returns the complete dataset in CSV format. It can be used directly in pandas, R, curl, or any data tool.
Using the Dataset in Python
import pandas as pd
url = "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/natural-gas-price.csv"
df = pd.read_csv(url)
print(df.head())
print(f"Latest value: {df['natgas_price_usd'].iloc[-1]:.2f}")
Using the Dataset in R
library(readr) url <- "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/natural-gas-price.csv" df <- read_csv(url) head(df) summary(df$natgas_price_usd)
Both examples load the dataset directly from the URL — no download or API key required.
Methodology
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) compiles the Henry Hub daily spot price from broker and market reports of physical gas trades for next-day delivery at the Sabine Pipe Line Company’s Henry Hub. FRED republishes the EIA series under code DHHNGSP. The price is quoted in USD per million British thermal units (MMBtu) and is the underlying reference for NYMEX natural gas futures (NG) settlement and most US LNG export contracts.
This dataset is updated automatically via the Eco3min data pipeline.
Data Quality & Provider Notes
DHHNGSP is one of the most-cited commodity price series in macro-finance, used by trading desks, electricity dispatchers, and inflation analysts. The series is mechanically reliable but has cadence and revision quirks worth knowing before building a model on it.
- Release latency. EIA publishes DHHNGSP daily with approximately one business-day lag. FRED mirrors the EIA release; the Eco3min pipeline pulls the FRED feed daily.
- Revisions policy. Henry Hub spot prices are rarely revised once published. Occasional minor revisions occur when EIA reconciles broker reports for thinly traded sessions, but historical DHHNGSP values are stable for analytical purposes.
- Alternative sources. The CME Group publishes NYMEX natural gas futures (NG1 front-month) settlement prices, which closely track DHHNGSP but embed forward expectations. Argus, Platts, and ICE provide subscription-based real-time Henry Hub spot quotes. The EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report (Thursdays at 10:30 ET) is the principal weekly fundamental driver of DHHNGSP moves.
- Known gaps. Weekends, US federal holidays, and occasional days with no reported trades produce gaps in the daily DHHNGSP series. Analyses requiring a continuous daily series should either forward-fill or use a monthly average.
For forward-looking analysis, DHHNGSP is best read alongside the NYMEX NG futures curve and weekly EIA storage data rather than in isolation.
Common Pitfalls When Using DHHNGSP
DHHNGSP is widely used but several recurring interpretation errors distort the signal.
- Benchmark confusion — Henry Hub vs TTF vs JKM. DHHNGSP is the US Henry Hub spot price. European Dutch TTF and Asian Japan/Korea Marker (JKM) often trade at multiples of DHHNGSP because LNG transportation and liquefaction costs do not arbitrage the gap away in real time. Users comparing US gas to global gas should source TTF and JKM separately rather than treating DHHNGSP as a global proxy.
- Spot vs futures curve. DHHNGSP is the current-day spot price, not the forward expectation. NYMEX NG1, NG2, and the calendar strip embed seasonal premia (winter contracts trade above summer contracts most years) and supply expectations. Using DHHNGSP to forecast NG-fuelled electricity generation costs months ahead misses the futures-curve signal.
- Unit confusion — $/MMBtu vs $/cf vs $/Btu. DHHNGSP is quoted in USD per million British thermal units. One MMBtu equals roughly 1,030 cubic feet of pipeline-quality natural gas. Comparisons against $/thousand-cubic-feet (Mcf) or per-cubic-foot quotes require unit conversion; ignoring this produces three-orders-of-magnitude errors.
- Direct vs indirect inflation effect. Natural gas appears in CPI with a small direct weight (utility-piped gas, roughly 0.5–1%). Its larger inflation transmission runs through electricity generation costs, fertiliser, and petrochemical inputs — channels that show up in CPI and PPI with several months of lag rather than contemporaneously with DHHNGSP moves.
Historical Regimes
1997–2008 — Pre-shale volatility. DHHNGSP ranged from $1.50 to $15/MMBtu with extreme seasonal and hurricane-driven spikes. The 2005 Katrina-driven spike to $15 and the 2008 oil-correlated surge defined this era of supply fragility.
2008–2020 — Shale abundance. The Marcellus and Permian shale revolutions flooded the market. DHHNGSP collapsed to a $1.50–3.50/MMBtu range, the longest sustained low-price period in the dataset. Associated gas from oil drilling added further supply pressure, decoupling DHHNGSP from WTI crude.
2020–2022 — Energy crisis. Post-COVID demand recovery, the Russia–Ukraine conflict, and LNG export growth drove DHHNGSP from $1.50 (June 2020) to $9.50 (August 2022) — a 6× increase in two years.
2023–2026 — New equilibrium. Warm winters, continued production growth, and storage rebuilds pushed DHHNGSP back to $2–3/MMBtu. The market is testing whether structural LNG export demand creates a durable floor above pre-shale lows, with cross-checks against the Brent crude oil price and the copper price revealing the broader industrial-commodity regime.
Related Macroeconomic Datasets
DHHNGSP is best analysed alongside other energy benchmarks, dollar reference, and industrial commodity series.
- WTI Crude Oil Price — The other US energy benchmark; the oil/gas ratio is a classic energy-market regime indicator
- Brent Crude Oil Price — Global oil benchmark for international energy comparison
- Real Crude Oil Price (CPI-Adjusted) — Removes USD purchasing-power erosion for multi-decade energy analysis
- Copper Price History — Industrial commodity reference; complements energy series for cycle analysis
- Gold Price History — Monetary-asset reference for the energy-vs-monetary regime contrast
- US Dollar Index (DTWEXBGS) — USD-denomination driver of all commodity prices
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are US natural gas prices so much lower than European prices?
The US produces abundant shale gas domestically, while Europe imports most of its gas (historically from Russia, now via LNG). LNG export capacity creates a price bridge but transportation and liquefaction costs maintain a structural spread of $3–8/MMBtu between DHHNGSP (Henry Hub) and European TTF benchmarks.
How do I download the DHHNGSP (Henry Hub natural gas) dataset as CSV?
The complete dataset is available directly from this page in CSV or Excel format — no signup or API key needed. The CSV is also accessible as a direct URL (https://eco3min.fr/dataset/natural-gas-price.csv) for use in Python, R, or any data tool. For the raw FRED feed, see the DHHNGSP direct CSV URL above.
Macroeconomic Dataset Hub
This dataset is part of the Eco3min macro-financial data repository. Explore all available datasets including inflation, interest rates, equity returns, credit spreads, and currency indicators.
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Sources
- Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis — FRED series DHHNGSP
- US Energy Information Administration (EIA) — underlying Henry Hub spot price compilation
Dataset Reference
Last updated — 4 August 2026
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