Natural gas in storage declined by 116 billion cubic to sit at 1,737 Bcf for the week ended Feb. 26, the Energy Information Administration (“EIA”) said Thursday. Stocks were 71 Bcf less than last year at this time and 21 Bcf above the 5-year average of 1,716 Bcf. At 1,737 Bcf, total working gas is within the 5-year historical range.
Natural gas prices were down Thursday after the government said supplies dropped less than expected last week. A Platts survey of analysts expected a larger withdrawal of 128 to 132 billion cubic feet. The contract for April delivery lost 18.2 cents, nearly 4 percent, to settle at $4.575 per 1,000 cubic feet on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices dropped as low as $4.556 earlier in the day, the lowest ever for the April contract.
Back in early December, Horn River News started to report that though the colder winter weather and resulting draw down on natural gas was a welcome situation, and would allow the U.S. to avoid reaching its physical storage capacity, the next key point with U.S. natural gas storage would be where it finished the winter heating season. It appears that the average amount of natural gas in storage is going to increase until the U.S. takes advantage of this abundant cleaner fossil fuel and increases its usage in electricity power generation and transportation.
