September 30th
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In the United States, retail sales are often in units of therms (th); 1 therm = 100,000 BTU. Gas meters measure the volume of gas used, and this is converted to therms by multiplying the volume by the energy content of the gas used during that period, which varies slightly over time. Wholesale transactions are generally done in decatherms (Dth), or in thousand decatherms (MDth), or in million decatherms (MMDth). A million decatherms is roughly a billion cubic feet of natural gas.
Natural gas is also traded as a commodity in Europe, principally at the United Kingdom NBP and related European hubs, such as the TTF in the Netherlands.
In the rest of the world, LNG (liquified natural gas) and LPG (liquified petroleum gas) is traded in metric tons or mmBTU as spot deliveries. Long term contracts are signed in metric tons - and to convert from one system to the other requires should better be described here, than a very isolated market. A cubic foot is a volumetric measure, MT is weight. The LNG and LPG is transported by special ships/containers, as the gas is liquified - LPG cryonic. The specification of each LNG/LPG cargo will usually contain the energy content, but this information is in general not available to the public.
The major difficulty in the use of natural gas is transportation and storage because of its low density. Natural gas pipelines are economical, but are impractical across oceans. Many existing pipelines in North America are close to reaching their capacity, prompting some politicians representing colder areas to speak publicly of potential shortages
