Energy substitution · live
Oil to Natural Gas Ratio
The oil to natural gas ratio is 31.05 — WTI crude at $85.69 per barrel divided by Henry Hub natural gas at $2.76 per MMBtu.
This pair has something most commodity ratios lack: a physically meaningful reference level. On energy content alone a barrel of crude is worth roughly 5.8 MMBtu of gas, so parity sits near 6:1.
Prices as of Aug 24, 2026, 9:27 AM UTC. Change either side of the calculator to price any other pair, or read the unit reference for how cross-unit ratios should be read.
Crude Oil WTI Futures to Natural Gas Futures ratio
1.000 Bbl of crude oil wti futures = 31.047 MMBtu of natural gas futures
Inverse (NG-FUT/WTIOIL-FUT): 0.03221 — one Million British Thermal Units of natural gas futures buys that much crude oil wti futures.
Above its 1 year average. (76th percentile of the last 1 year)
Crude Oil WTI Futures
$85.69
per Barrel
Natural Gas Futures
$2.76
per Million British Thermal Units
Unit basis: USD per Barrel ÷ USD per Million British Thermal Units. The ratio reads as Million British Thermal Unitss of natural gas futures per Barrel of crude oil wti futures. Prices as of Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:27:40 GMT.
1Y average
22.96
median 20.57
1Y low
8.905
Jan 25, 2026
1Y high
41.69
Apr 29, 2026
Normal band
14.57–31.35
mean ± 1 std dev
Deviation from mean
+0.96σ
293 observations
Crude Oil WTI Futures to Natural Gas Futures ratio charts
Pick a range once — it applies to the WTIOIL-FUT/NG-FUT ratio line, the OHLC candles and the Crude Oil WTI Futures / Natural Gas Futures price chart below.
WTIOIL-FUT/NG-FUT ratio line
How many MMBtu of Natural Gas Futures one Bbl of Crude Oil WTI Futures buys, over 1Y.
WTIOIL-FUT/NG-FUT ratio candles
Open, high, low and close of the WTIOIL-FUT/NG-FUT ratio for each period in the last 1Y.
Crude Oil WTI Futures and Natural Gas Futures prices
Both legs of the ratio on their own axes, so you can see which one moved over 1Y.
How to calculate the oil to natural gas ratio
Oil to gas ratio = WTI crude price per barrel ÷ natural gas price per MMBtu
Crude is quoted per barrel and gas per MMBtu, so the quotient is MMBtu of gas per barrel of oil. Because both units measure energy, the result can be compared against the physical energy-equivalence level of about 5.8:1.
Worked example, live prices: $85.69 ÷ $2.76 = 31.05. The inverse is 0.03221.
The only commodity ratio with a physical benchmark
A barrel of crude contains about 5.8 million BTU. That means a ratio near 6 represents rough energy parity: a dollar buys the same heat content either way. Readings well above 6 say gas is cheap on an energy-equivalent basis, and readings below say oil is.
That benchmark is not academic — it is the calculation behind real decisions. Industrial users with dual-fuel boilers switch on it, petrochemical feedstock economics turn on it, and gas-to-liquids and LNG export projects are underwritten against it. Since the US shale gas boom the ratio has spent most of its time far above 6, which is precisely why American LNG export capacity was built.
Why gas is the volatile leg
Oil is a globally fungible commodity with tankers, deep futures markets and a broadly single price. Natural gas is regional: moving it requires pipelines or liquefaction, so Henry Hub, European TTF and Asian JKM can diverge enormously. Gas is also acutely weather-sensitive, with storage that fills and empties seasonally.
The result is that almost all the movement in this ratio comes from the gas leg. Cold winters and summer power burn compress it; mild weather and full storage blow it out. Over the trailing 1 year it has averaged 22.96, ranging from 8.905 to 41.69, with today's 31.05 at the 76th percentile — a wider range than any of the metals ratios produce.
Other commodity ratios
Each of these has its own page with live pricing, a full year of history and the range statistics.
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Live prices behind the ratios
| # | Symbol | Name | Rate (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | XAU | Gold | 4641.78 |
| 2 | XAG | Silver | 68.86 |
| 3 | WTIOIL-FUT | Crude Oil WTI Futures | 85.69 |
| 4 | BRENTOIL-FUT | Crude Oil Brent Futures | 92.72 |
| 5 | NG-FUT | Natural Gas Futures | 2.75 |
| 6 | PL | Platinum | 1884.84 |
| 7 | PA | Palladium | 1346.10 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the oil to natural gas ratio today?
The oil to natural gas ratio is 31.05 MMBtu of gas per barrel of WTI crude — $85.69 per barrel divided by $2.76 per MMBtu.
What does a 6:1 oil to gas ratio mean?
It means rough energy parity. A barrel of crude contains about 5.8 million BTU, so at a ratio near 6 a dollar buys about the same heat content from either fuel. Above 6, gas is cheap on an energy-equivalent basis; below 6, oil is.
Why is the ratio usually well above 6?
US shale production made Henry Hub gas structurally cheap relative to globally priced crude, and gas cannot easily be shipped to arbitrage the gap without liquefaction. The persistent gap above energy parity is the economic case on which US LNG export capacity was built.
Which gas benchmark does this use?
Henry Hub natural gas futures in US dollars per MMBtu. European TTF and Asian JKM often trade at large premiums to Henry Hub, so a ratio built on those benchmarks looks very different for the same barrel of oil.