Austin WrightUnited States Natural Gas Fund, LP (AMEX:UNG) traded at 9.74 USD on August 10, 2026, up 1.14% on the day, though the fund still sits closer to the bottom of its 52 week range of 9.54 to 12.23 and carries a relative strength index of 34.95, a reading that points to weak momentum even as the shares tick higher. The move comes as analysts warn that a decade of dirt cheap natural gas in the United States may be ending.
Data as of 2026-08-10Price 9.74 USD Day change +0.11 (+1.14%) 52-week range 9.54 – 12.23 RSI (14) 34.95 Volume 8,059,021
In Brief
- UNG shares rose 1.14% to 9.74 USD, still well below the top of their 52 week range.
- Wood Mackenzie projects Henry Hub prices climbing toward 5 USD per MMBtu by 2035.
- U.S. LNG exports jumped from 0.5 billion cubic feet per day in 2016 to 15.0 Bcf per day in 2025.
- AI data centers and expanding export terminals are driving new demand even as easy production gains fade.
- Power sector demand alone could require 17 additional Bcf per day of gas by the mid 2030s.
Why Cheap Gas Defined the Last Decade
For most of the ten years leading up to 2025, Henry Hub prices stayed locked between roughly 2 and 4 USD per MMBtu. Drillers flooded the market with supply, both from dedicated gas fields and as a byproduct of oil drilling. Better technology and rising well productivity kept output climbing even when prices sagged, which is part of why a fund tracking natural gas prices, like UNG, has spent so much time near multi year lows rather than pushing toward its 52 week high of 12.23.
Exports and Data Centers Reshape Demand
The supply picture that kept prices low is running into a demand story that is anything but sleepy. U.S. LNG exports have gone from a standing start, the first cargo left Sabine Pass in February 2016, to 15.0 Bcf per day in 2025, according to Energy Information Administration figures. That has made the United States the largest LNG exporter in the world, ahead of Qatar and Australia. Export volumes are expected to reach as much as 18.1 Bcf per day by 2027, and government projections show total export capacity nearly doubling by 2031 compared with December 2025 levels.
Charlie Riedl, who heads the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas trade group in Washington, told reporters last month that by 2050 the country could be producing 40 to 45 Bcf per day of LNG, nearly triple current output. He noted that LNG exports currently account for just over 15% of total U.S. natural gas demand, but argued the resource base and drilling efficiencies exist to keep scaling supply.
Layered on top of exports is the electricity appetite of artificial intelligence data centers. Wood Mackenzie's Kristy Kramer, who leads LNG strategy and market development at the firm, said power sector demand alone could add 17 Bcf per day of gas consumption by the mid 2030s. Global Energy Monitor reported earlier this year that gas fired power capacity under development in the United States nearly tripled in 2025, reaching almost 252 gigawatts across announced, pre construction and construction projects. More than a third of that capacity is intended to power data centers directly on site.
Will Producers Keep Pace With Rising Natural Gas Demand?
The strain shows up on the supply side too. Wood Mackenzie analysts point out that the best, cheapest to produce gas acreage has largely already been developed, and the productivity gains that once offset falling drilling activity appear to be leveling off. A slowdown in oil directed drilling also means less associated gas coming out of oil fields as a byproduct, removing another source of cheap supply that helped keep Henry Hub prices pinned down for years.
Put together, Wood Mackenzie expects a sustained climb in Henry Hub prices over the coming decade, approaching 5 USD per MMBtu by 2035 as power demand, industrial use and LNG exports all pull on the same limited pool of gas. Even at that level, U.S. gas would remain competitive against much higher prices in Europe and Asia. Whether domestic producers can expand output fast enough to meet that combined demand, without the easy productivity gains of the past ten years, will likely determine how quickly funds like UNG move off their current lows and toward something closer to their 52 week highs.
