Natural gas inventories end heating season above five-year average
Working natural gas in storage finished the heating season at a level 15 percent higher than the five-year average, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report.
On March 31, the last day of the traditional heating season, natural gas inventories totaled 2,051 billion cubic feet (Bcf). Inventories throughout the 2016 to 2017 heating season closely followed the five-year average until withdrawals slowed near the end of the season.
The total inventory of U.S. natural gas in storage typically follows seasonal patterns of injections during
the summer and withdrawals in the winter.
At the close of March 2016, natural gas storage inventories almost reached record levels for the end of a heating season at 2,470 Bcf, which is 54 percent higher than the previous five-year average (2011-2015). Inventories began the most recent heating season at a record of 4,047 Bcf in November 2016 due to comparatively warm seasonal weather.
Overall natural gas consumption for the 2016 to 2017 heating season was about the same as the previous year, although U.S. dry natural gas production fell by three percent. Consumption in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors remained relatively flat.
Somewhat higher natural gas prices, led to a 2.1 Bcf drop in natural gas for electric power generation fell from the 2015 to 2016 heating season. The drop, however, was mostly offset by a 2.0 Bcf increase in natural gas exports from the United States, according to data from PointLogic.
EIA’s latest Short-Term Energy Outlook projects an approximately 1,750 Bcf increase in working natural gas inventories through this summer’s injection season. The EIA expects consumption in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors to change little on an annual average basis as electric power sector consumption of natural gas declines slightly and gross natural gas exports continue to increase.
