Rocky Mountain Area Natural Gas Daily Price Review – March 2026
Brian Jeffries
Warm weather in the Rockies and western US in March led to melancholy daily pricing at all points tracked in those areas. Cold weather in the midcontinent US led to significantly higher prices in that area. Consequently, during the month of March 2026 and for most of the winter, pipeline flows out of the Rockies to the midcontinent increased significantly over recent norms. Cheyenne Plains Pipeline in particular saw daily flows in excess of 500,000 MMBtu per day in March. This contrast with relatively anemic flows of 100,000 MMBtu per day over the last few years. Cheyenne Plains Pipeline originates in Colorado at the Cheyenne Hub and connects to a variety of other interstate pipelines serving the Midwest US including Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America, ANR Pipeline Company, Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Company and Northern Natural Gas Company.
Permian Basin spot prices remained in negative territory and thus substantially below Rockies area daily prices.
For the natural gas industry, the winter season is considered November 1 through March 31. The chart below compares the winter of ’25-’26 with the prior winter period. The daily prices depicted are based on an assumed mix of eighty percent first of the month baseload pricing and twenty percent daily pricing. The resulting daily composite price only includes the value of residue gas delivered to pipelines. It does not include the value of natural gas liquids extracted in processing plants and delivered by other mechanisms. The relatively large step changes that often occur at the start of a month reflect the inclusion of a new monthly baseload price when a calendar month rolls over. The daily variations reflect the impact of the fluctuating daily prices. In some cases, very large changes in the daily price (usually upward) occasion a noticeable but temporary rise in the daily composite price. The average composite price for this last winter of $3.32 per MMBtu is not remarkably different from the prior winter price of $3.61 per MMBtu despite significant monthly and daily differences between corresponding days or months in the two winters.
