October 2026 Natural Gas Storage Report Calendar: Dates, Times, and Schedule Changes

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report is normally released Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. For October 2026, that means five expected release windows: October 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29. EIA’s current holiday schedule lists no October exception. The report date is the publication date; the inventory estimate describes working gas in storage as of the preceding Friday.

This distinction helps prevent a common calendar mistake: matching the Thursday release to the wrong storage week. The table below pairs each regular release date with the Friday data date it is expected to cover. The dates follow EIA’s published weekly cadence and are checked against its holiday schedule as of September 29, 2026. Because EIA can update schedules, check the live schedule page again before relying on a date for a time-sensitive decision.

October 2026 release calendar

These are expected dates under the standard schedule, not a claim that EIA has individually posted five separate October notices. EIA says all release times on its holiday schedule are Eastern. In October, the United States is still on daylight saving time, so 10:30 a.m. Eastern is 10:30 a.m. EDT (UTC−4); the 2026 change back to standard time is November 1. If you use another time zone, convert from Eastern Daylight Time rather than assuming the market calendar is showing your local time. See the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s 2026 daylight saving time dates.

What the report measures—and what it does not

Working gas is the portion of underground stored natural gas available for withdrawal, as distinct from base gas that supports reservoir operations. EIA’s weekly report estimates working-gas inventories for the Lower 48 states and five regions. It also reports the week-over-week net change, comparisons with historical levels, and statistical measures that help readers understand estimate precision. A positive net change usually reflects net injections into storage; a negative change usually reflects net withdrawals, though the published inventory change can also reflect other adjustments.

The report is based on a sample survey of storage operators, not a real-time meter reading of every storage field. EIA publishes sampling-variability measures alongside the estimates. For that reason, a headline number should be treated as an estimate with stated statistical uncertainty, rather than as an exact count or a complete explanation of what moved prices. Weather, production, pipeline flows, imports, exports, and demand can all matter to market interpretation.

EIA’s methodology says operators report volumes as of 9:00 a.m. Central Time on Friday. EIA then sets a Monday submission deadline, with an extra day when Monday is a federal holiday, and normally releases the estimates the following Thursday. That is why the report released October 1 corresponds to Friday, September 25, rather than to October 1 itself. For the formal definitions and method, see EIA’s Weekly Underground Natural Gas Storage Estimates methodology and its table notes and definitions.

Why a release date or time can change

Federal holidays can alter the reporting week

EIA makes exceptions for certain weeks that include federal holidays. Its published 2026 list currently shows a Friday, November 13 release at 10:30 a.m. for Veterans Day and a Wednesday, November 25 release at noon for Thanksgiving. Neither is an October date. The October calendar therefore remains on the regular Thursday schedule in the currently published list. A federal holiday elsewhere in the month does not automatically mean every weekly report moves: use the EIA schedule’s named exceptions rather than applying a blanket rule.

There is a related detail for people tracking the data collection deadline. EIA’s methodology says survey submissions are normally due Monday at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, but move to Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. when Monday is a federal holiday. That submission adjustment and a public release-date change are related scheduling considerations, but they are not interchangeable. Check the release schedule for the date and time readers should expect the published report.

Updates and delays are possible

The EIA holiday page includes the word “Updated” on some past exceptions, showing that schedule entries can be revised. An unexpected agency closure or operational notice could also require a change that is not known far in advance. This article cannot confirm a future emergency delay. If exact timing matters, refresh the EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report schedule on the release day and open the report page itself before treating a calendar reminder as confirmation.

Choose the calendar workflow that fits your need

• For exact release monitoring: Keep EIA’s schedule page as the authoritative reference and check it again on Thursday morning. This adds a manual step, but reduces the chance that an old saved calendar misses a revision.
• For routine planning: Add five recurring Thursday reminders for 10:30 a.m. Eastern, then add the report page and schedule page to the reminder. This is convenient for a monthly workflow, but recurring entries should not override official exception notices.
• For research and market context: Read the storage report for the inventory estimate and its uncertainty measures, then use EIA’s Natural Gas Storage Dashboard for broader storage-related indicators. The dashboard is a companion product, not a substitute release calendar.
• For a fast alert: A market-data terminal or news alert may be quicker to scan, but its timestamp and summary can depend on the provider. Confirm the published figure and release time on EIA’s own Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report page.

EIA’s general release listing also shows the separate Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report Supplement as a Thursday product due by 5:00 p.m. That later companion material is useful for context, but it is not the 10:30 a.m. report release; do not confuse the two when setting an alert. The EIA release schedules page lists both products.

Quick checklist before each Thursday

1. Confirm the planned date and time on EIA’s current holiday schedule.
2. Note the storage week ending Friday, which is six days before the regular Thursday release date.
3. Convert 10:30 a.m. Eastern to your local time zone if needed.
4. After publication, use the official report’s data and statistical measures; distinguish the reported estimate from any market interpretation.
5. If a saved alert conflicts with a current EIA notice, follow the current agency schedule and report page.

For October 2026, the practical plan is straightforward: watch Thursdays, October 1 through October 29, at 10:30 a.m. Eastern, while checking EIA’s live schedule for any later revision. The date on the release tells you when the report appears; the Friday week-ending date tells you which storage period the estimate describes.