EIA Natural Gas Storage Report - July 25

[dan_s]

Working gas in storage was 3,231 Bcf as of Friday, July 19, 2024, according to EIA estimates.
This represents a net increase of 22 Bcf from the previous week. < 11 Bcf below the 5-year average.
Stocks were 249 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 456 Bcf above the five-year average of 2,775 Bcf.
At 3,231 Bcf, total working gas is above the five-year historical range.

Since mid-April the storage builds have been below the 5-year average for 12 of the 13 weeks; reducing the surplus to the 5-year average by 199 Bcf.

There are 16 weeks remaining in the refill season, so it is unlikely that ngas storage will be back to the 5-year average before the 2024/2025 winter heating season begins. However, demand for U.S. natural gas will be much higher heading into the next winter just because of 3.3 Bcfpd of more LNG export capacity coming on line by December (not including Freeport's 2 Bcfpd of LNG exports coming back online) AND that does not include the increased demand for power generation that is just ahead to meet the AI electricity demand.

If we have a normal winter, the supply/demand fundamentals for U.S. natural gas should be much stronger after 2024.