Natural Gas Storage Report - April 7

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Working gas in storage was 2,480 Bcf as of Friday, April 1, 2016, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of 12 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 1,008 Bcf higher than last year at this time and 874 Bcf above the five-year average of 1,606 Bcf. At 2,480 Bcf, total working gas is above the five-year historical range.

Mobius Risk Group:
While the current calendar year will have its challenges in respect to the extremely large storage overhang (1 Tcf), there are positive developments aiding longer term supply and demand balances. Supply is being removed from the market on a daily basis, with LNG feedgas to the Sabine Pass terminal averaging 0.63 Bcf/d over the past 3 weeks. Only three days within that 3-week window have shown feedgas falling below the 0.5 Bcf threshold. Also supportive in nature is the steady growth in natural gas exports to Mexico. Thus far in 2016, we have sent approximately 1 Bcf/d more gas to Mexico than during the same period last year.

The Northeast/Appalachian markets have been in the news again the last couple of days with yet another announced pipeline delay. The Penn East project has been pushed back 1 year to the second half of 2018. This is the fourth announced delay of a major northeast takeaway project this year. The cumulative daily capacity of these pipeline projects is over 4 Bcf, and there are still other scheduled projects in 2017 that are at risk of further delays.