Mont Belvieu Propane Spot Price (1992–2026)
The Mont Belvieu Propane Spot Price is the daily wholesale price of propane at the Texas hub that anchors US natural-gas-liquids trading, published by the EIA since 1992. Propane heats rural homes, fuels crop drying, and feeds petrochemical crackers — a genuinely multi-market fuel. As the continuous wholesale benchmark, it is the year-round substitute for the heating-season-only residential propane series. Range: $0.203 (March 2020) to $1.98 (2008); $0.70 in mid-2026, the cheapest major fuel per gallon.
Dataset: Mont Belvieu Propane Spot Price (1992–2026) · Updated 2026-07-27
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Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) · series EER_EPLLPA_PF4_Y44MB_DPG
Macro Takeaway
Propane is a natural-gas liquid, not a crude product — it is stripped from natural gas processing and light crude refining. Its price therefore straddles the oil and gas complexes, and the US shale boom, which flooded the market with associated NGLs, structurally depressed propane relative to crude after 2014.
Mont Belvieu, Texas is the NGL trading center of the US; this is the reference propane price and the pricing basis for exports, which have surged as the US became the world’s largest propane exporter. International demand now sets a floor the purely domestic era never had.
The March 2020 low of $0.203 reflects the double shock of collapsing oil and a warm winter into a glutted NGL market — a rare stress reading. Propane’s petrochemical demand (as a cracker feedstock competing with ethane) makes it more industrially driven than its heating-fuel image suggests.
Dataset Overview
| Indicator | Mont Belvieu Propane Spot Price (1992–2026) |
|---|---|
| Geography | United States |
| Frequency | Daily |
| Period | 1992 – present |
| Variables | date, propane_spot |
| Format | CSV, Excel (XLSX) |
| Sources | U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) |
| Last updated | — |
Dataset Variables
The CSV and Excel files contain the following columns.
| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
date | Date (YYYY-MM-DD) | Reference date of the observation |
propane_spot | Float | Mont Belvieu, TX propane spot price FOB, dollars per gallon |
A value of 0.703 means propane cleared at $0.70 per gallon FOB Mont Belvieu that day.
Download the Complete Dataset
The full dataset is available in CSV and Excel formats.
EIA Direct API Access
The underlying data comes from the U.S. Energy Information Administration API v2 (route petroleum/pri/spt, series EER_EPLLPA_PF4_Y44MB_DPG). An EIA API key is free from the EIA developer portal.
Direct CSV Access — Eco3min Structured Dataset
https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/propane-spot-mont-belvieu.csv
This URL returns the complete, cleaned dataset in CSV format. It can be used directly in pandas, R, curl, or any data tool — no key required.
Using the Dataset in Python
import pandas as pd
url = "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/propane-spot-mont-belvieu.csv"
df = pd.read_csv(url, parse_dates=["date"])
print(f"Latest: {df['propane_spot'].iloc[-1]:.3f} USD/gallon")
print(df.tail())
Using the Dataset in R
library(readr) url <- "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/eia/propane-spot-mont-belvieu.csv" df <- read_csv(url) tail(df) summary(df$propane_spot)
Both examples load the dataset directly from the URL — no download or API key required.
Methodology
Daily spot assessments at Mont Belvieu, Texas compiled by the EIA from market sources. FOB hub price, excluding delivery.
This dataset is refreshed daily (Mon–Sat) via automated pull from the EIA API v2; new observations appear with each source release.
Data Quality & Provider Notes
- Frequency. Daily since 1992 at the US NGL trading hub.
- NGL, not crude product. Stripped from gas processing; straddles oil and gas markets.
- Export-linked. US propane exports set an international floor on the domestic price.
- Continuity advantage. Trades year-round, unlike the seasonal residential propane series.
- Known gaps. Non-trading days only; continuous since July 1992.
Common Pitfalls When Using This Series
- Treating propane as an oil product. It is a natural-gas liquid; its supply follows gas processing and shale NGL output.
- Reading spot as the residential propane bill. Rural delivered propane costs far more than the Mont Belvieu wholesale hub price.
- Ignoring petrochemical demand. Cracker feedstock use competes with ethane and drives industrial demand beyond heating.
- Missing the export floor. Post-2015 US export capacity links domestic propane to global prices.
Historical Regimes
1992–2003 — Domestic and cheap. A purely domestic heating market, prices mostly $0.30–$0.60.
2004–2008 — Oil-driven rise. Propane tracked crude up to the $1.98 peak in 2008.
2009–2014 — Volatile with a polar-vortex spike. The 2014 cold snap drove a sharp regional shortage and price spike.
2015–2019 — Shale glut. Associated NGL oversupply structurally depressed propane relative to oil; exports began absorbing the surplus.
2020–2026 — Crash and recovery. The March 2020 low of $0.203, then recovery to $0.70 by mid-2026 as exports tightened the balance.
Related Macroeconomic Datasets
- Natural Gas Price — Henry Hub — the gas complex propane is stripped from
- WTI Crude Oil Price — the crude side propane partly tracks
- NY Harbor Heating Oil Spot Price — the competing home-heating fuel
Macroeconomic Dataset Hub
This dataset is part of the Eco3min macro-financial data repository.
Explore the Eco3min Commodity Data Hub
Sources
- U.S. Energy Information Administration — Petroleum & Other Liquids Spot Prices (series EER_EPLLPA_PF4_Y44MB_DPG)
Dataset Reference
Last updated — 4 August 2026
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