IGU Publishes the 20th Anniversary Edition of the Wholesale Gas Price Survey in General Energy News 22/05/2026 The International Gas Union (IGU) has released the 2026 edition of its flagship  Wholesale Gas Price Survey , providing one of the most comprehensive analyses of global natural gas pricing ever assembled and highlighting the growing resilience, flexibility and strategic importance of global natural gas markets amid renewed geopolitical instability. 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 Survey concludes that global natural gas markets are entering a new era defined by increased market-based pricing, expanding LNG flexibility and intensified geopolitical risk, as the world experiences its second major natural gas price shock in just four years. Average global wholesale natural gas prices reached US$5.31 per MMBtu in 2025, above the previous year, but significantly below the 2022 peak of US$9.45 per MMBtu. According to the Survey, the rapid evolution of global LNG markets — driven largely by expanding US LNG exports and the rise of flexible, spot-based trading — has fundamentally reshaped the way natural gas is bought and sold worldwide. Gas-on-gas competition (GOG) pricing now accounts for 52% of the global LNG trade, compared with just 14% in 2005. 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 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