By Tsvetana Paraskova – April 15, 2022 10:00 am CDT
- Higher exports and increased demand have pushed US natural gas storage to its lowest level in three years.
- Gas in underground storage in the Lower 48 States totaled 1,387 billion cubic feet (Bcf) as of the last day of March.
- The US is exporting record amounts of LNG as the US seeks to help European allies with non-Russian gas supplies.
Higher demand for heat and record LNG exports left U.S. natural gas storage at the end of winter at its lowest level in three years after above-average storage withdrawals last winter, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Friday .
Due to higher withdrawals, the US had the lowest amount of natural gas in underground storage in the lower 48 states since 2019 at the end of March.
As of the last day of March this year, working natural gas in underground reservoirs in the lower 48 states totaled 1,387 billion cubic feet (Bcf). Stocks were 17 percent lower than the five-year (2017-21) average for this time of year, the EIA’s Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report showed on Thursday.
A colder January 2022 and record high liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the US led to more withdrawals, even as domestic natural gas production increased, the EIA said.
The US is exporting record amounts of LNG as the US seeks to help European allies with non-Russian gas supplies.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Union and the United States announced in late March an agreement on more US LNG exports to the EU as the latter seeks to replace Russian supplies on which it depends. Under the terms of the deal, the United States will ship at least 15 billion cubic meters more liquefied natural gas to the EU this year than previously planned, the White House said in a fact sheet.
Earlier this month US shale gas and LNG producers met with delegations from several EU member states eager to boost their purchases of US LNG. This zeal could be critical to final investment decisions on new LNG export capacity.
Record LNG exports from the US have pushed the benchmark Henry Hub front month futures to over $7 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) this week after the price hit $6/MMBtu just last week.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
Other top reads from Oilprice.com:
Download the free Oilprice app today
Back to home page