EIA Sees Record Lower 48 Gas in Storage
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said June 11 it expects stored gas in the Lower 48 states will reach a record 4.09 trillion ft3 by the end of the 2020 injection season on October 31, filling available storage facilities to 87% of design capacity and to nearly 96% of demonstrated peak capacity.
Citing statistics initially released in its Short Term Energy Outlook earlier this week, the EIA said in its latest Natural Gas Weekly Update that working gas storage levels ended the 2019-2020 heating season 19% higher than the five-year average and nearly 74% higher than working gas storage levels at the end of the 2018-2019 heating season.
“EIA estimates that total natural gas injections in the Lower 48 states from April 1 through the end of October this year will be about 2.08 trillion ft3, or 1% higher than the five-year average,” the update said. “Despite this near-average injection season, the high starting inventory levels lead to a record storage level by the end of October.”
Dry gas production this storage season is expected to average about 88.9bn ft3/day, a 4% decline from last year, while LNG exports are forecast to average 5.6bn ft3/day in Q2 2020 and 3.7bn ft3/day in Q3 2020.
The high storage levels and weak global demand for LNG are expected to keep a lid on Henry Hub gas prices, which the EIA predicts will remain under $2.00/mn Btu through August 2020 before rising to about $2.25/mn Btu by October.