2026 Wholesale Gas Price Survey

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Survey series, first launched in 2006, this year’s edition covers 93% of total global natural gas consumption and charts two decades of structural transformation across international natural gas markets.

The 2026 Survey identifies three defining trends that have transformed the global natural gas market over the past two decades:

• a global shift away from regulated pricing toward market-based mechanisms; 

• the transition from oil price-linked (OPE) contracts to gas-on-gas (GOG) competition; 

• increasing convergence of global natural gas prices, interrupted only by the extreme volatility triggered by recent geopolitical crises.

The 2026 edition of the Wholesale Gas Price Survey highlights how increased market flexibility helped the global natural gas industry navigate through the disruption caused by the loss of Russian pipeline gas to Europe in 2022 and, more recently, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in 2026 - expanded LNG infrastructure, stronger interconnectivity and greater spot market liquidity have significantly improved global energy security and reduced the severity of supply disruptions.