Winter 2024: U.S. Natural Gas Inventories Reach Highest Levels Since 2016
Working natural gas in storage in the Lower 48 states ended the natural gas injection season with 3,922 billion cubic feet, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Dec. 2.
EIA released estimates based on data from its Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report released on November 7.
U.S. inventories are starting winter 2024–25 with the most natural gas since 2016. Inventories are currently 6% above the five-year (2019–23) average, despite less-than-average injections into storage throughout the entire injection season, which runs April 1 through October 31.
Less natural gas than the five-year average was injected in nearly every week during the 2024 injection season, in part because starting inventories were relatively full.
Natural gas inventories in the Lower 48 states at the end of March 2024 (the end of withdrawal season) totaled 2,282 Bcf, 25% more than at the same time in 2023 and 40% more than the five-year average for March, EIA reported.
