The US 2019–20 heating season, which ran from Nov. 1, 2019, to Mar. 31, 2020, ended with the most working natural gas in storage since the 2016–17 winter, with 1.718 tcf in net withdrawals, the least in four winters, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
The working natural gas in storage in Lower 48 as of Mar. 31, 2020, totaled 2.008 tcf, 19% more than the previous 5-year (2015–19) average for the end of the heating season, a late April EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report showed.
Continued growth in natural gas production and relatively mild winter temperatures accounted for relatively higher inventory levels.
Working US natural gas stocks entered the heating season at 3.575 tcf, nearly the same as the average over the previous 5 years. The 2019–20 US heating season was characterized by periods of significantly warmer-than-normal temperatures. Heating degree days (HDD), a temperature-based indicator of heating demand, were 10% less this winter than the 30-year normal (1981–2010) and were higher than normal for only one week in November during this heating season.
EIA expects total working gas inventory to remain higher than the previous 5-year average through the 2020 refill season (Apr. 1–Oct. 31). EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) forecasts natural gas production to decline from year-ago levels this summer. These production declines, combined with growth in natural gas exports, will lead to smaller net injections into working gas storage through the refill season.
EIA expects that inventories will total 3.904 tcf by the end of the 2020 refill season, or 185 bcf more than the previous 5-year average and 252 bcf more than last year. However, EIA’s April 2020 STEO forecast is subject to heightened uncertainty because of economic slowd
