Winter storm sends gas soaring: Goldman Sachs' Samanta Dart on natural gas price trends

Watch on YouTube ↗  |  January 23, 2026 at 13:33  |  6:44  |  CNBC
Speakers
Samantha Dart — Head of Digital Assets, Bitwise

Summary

Samantha Dart of Goldman Sachs discusses the winter storm-driven surge in natural gas prices. She says the storm may freeze more than 10% of US gas production for a few days while heating and power demand peaks, spiking day-ahead/cash prices. She views the prompt futures rally as overdone relative to fundamentals but sees a longer-term higher trend for US natural gas due to LNG exports. She also notes Europe's low inventories are cushioned by ample global LNG supply as Asia demand stays weak.

  • Winter storm drives US natural gas prices sharply higher.
  • Storm may freeze over 10% of US gas production for a few days.
  • Day-ahead/cash gas prices are spiking as demand peaks.
  • Prompt natural gas futures rally looks overdone versus fundamentals.
  • Low speculative positioning amplified the gas rally.
  • Long-term US natural gas trend is higher on LNG exports.
  • Europe gas inventories are low but LNG supply is accessible.
  • China LNG demand is weak due to renewables and soft industry.
Ideas
Samantha Dart Head of Digital Assets, Bitwise 2:10
Cash gas spikes; prompt futures overdone
The winter storm is likely to freeze more than 10% of US natural gas production for a few days just as heating and power demand peaks, causing day-ahead/cash prices to spike. However, the prompt/front-month futures rally of over 40% week-on-week has moved beyond what fundamentals justify, since there is no reason to expect February to see the same event, so prompt futures look overdone even if weather volatility remains high.
US natural gas day-ahead/cash prices HIGH
Samantha Dart Head of Digital Assets, Bitwise 2:10
Cash gas spikes; prompt futures overdone
The winter storm is likely to freeze more than 10% of US natural gas production for a few days just as heating and power demand peaks, causing day-ahead/cash prices to spike. However, the prompt/front-month futures rally of over 40% week-on-week has moved beyond what fundamentals justify, since there is no reason to expect February to see the same event, so prompt futures look overdone even if weather volatility remains high.
NG HIGH
Samantha Dart Head of Digital Assets, Bitwise 3:55
Long-term US natural gas trend is higher
She expects US natural gas prices to trend higher over the long run than the past 15 years because shale-driven abundance is no longer the whole story; growing LNG exports from the US, not just data centers, are a major structural demand change that should support higher prices.
UNG HIGH
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This CNBC video, published January 23, 2026, features Samantha Dart discussing US natural gas day-ahead/cash prices, NG, UNG. 3 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Samantha Dart  · Tickers: US natural gas day-ahead/cash prices, NG, UNG