Natural Gas Storage Report - April 13

[dan_s]

Working gas in storage was 2,061 Bcf as of Friday, April 7, 2017, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net increase of 10 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 416 Bcf less than last year at this time and 263 Bcf above the five-year average of 1,798 Bcf. At 2,061 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.

April 1 to October 31 is the "Refill Season". During this 214 day period, demand to refill storage will be 2 Bcf per day higher than it was last year.

During this 214 day period, ~1,800 Bcf needs to be injected to storage so the utility companies have adequate gas in storage to insure enough gas to make it through a cold winter. Maximum storage capacity is over 4,200 Bcf, but we won't get close to that level this year.

Weather also impacts natural gas demand in the summer, HOT weather increases demand for power generation.

For details on how gas is moved in and out of storage during the year, go to http://www.americanoilman.com/ and click on Gas Storage in the upper left corner.

Over the 22 weeks that ended March 31, 2017 ("the 2016/2017 heating season"), 1,912 BCF had to be drawn from storage to meet demand. This compares to the 5-year average of 1,987 BCF, so you can see that despite a rather mild winter in the U.S. we still consumed a lot of gas for space heating.