New York, February 19, 2026, 16:57 EST — Trading after the bell.
U.S. natural gas futures slipped Thursday following the latest government storage update, but shares of top gas producers traded higher in the after-hours session.
Storage numbers have traders’ attention with winter still eating into inventories, yet markets are also turning to life after heating demand fades and injection season kicks off.
Another factor in play: U.S. gas has gone global thanks to LNG export plants. With producer earnings out this week, hedging and spending are back in focus.
CME Group data had the March Henry Hub futures contract slipping roughly 0.5% to $3.016 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in recent trade.
EQT picked up roughly 1.9% after the bell. Range Resources tacked on 4.2%, Antero Resources advanced about 3.5%. The United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG), which tracks gas futures, dipped close to 0.6%.
EQT steered attention not just to the gas market, but to its own signals. The biggest U.S. gas producer topped analysts’ expectations for adjusted profit in the fourth quarter, and shared 2026 output and capex goals, Reuters said this week. CEO Toby Rice described Winter Storm Fern as having “resulted in negligible impact to EQT’s production.” Reuters
EQT bumped its 2026 hedge coverage up to 25%, from just 7%, according to its earnings release. The company also put on collars—those options structures that cap risk—with the floor averaging $3.94 per mmBtu, ceiling $5.70. “EQT delivered outstanding performance across the board in 2025,” CEO Rice said. PR Newswire
LNG continues to dominate the demand outlook. Between January and November 2025, U.S. LNG exporters consumed a record 5,000 billion cubic feet of gas—topping even residential consumption over the same stretch. The Henry Hub spot price jumped 61% in 2025, according to EIA figures cited by Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire.
But there’s a flip side here. If late winter turns mild, heating demand can fade fast, and storage won’t look nearly as pinched. On top of that, LNG plant outages—whenever they hit—can knock out feedgas demand almost instantly.
Underground storage levels for working gas dropped to 2,070 billion cubic feet for the week ending Feb. 13, according to the Energy Information Administration, marking a 144 Bcf decline from the previous week. That puts stocks below both last year’s total and the five-year norm. The EIA’s next storage update lands February 26.
