Near-record volumes of natural gas stored
Published by Tom Mostyn,
Editorial Assistant
Hydrocarbon Engineering,
The amount of natural gas held in storage in 2019 went from a relatively low value of 1.155 trillion ft3 at the beginning of April to 3.724 trillion ft3 at the end of October because of near-record injection activity during the natural gas injection, or refill, season (1 April – 31 October). Inventories as of 31 October were 37 billion ft3 higher than the previous five-year end-of-October average, according to interpolated values in the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report.
Although the end of the natural gas storage injection season is traditionally defined as 31 October, injections often occur in November. Working natural gas stocks ended the previous heating season at 1.155 trillion ft3 on 31 March 2019 – the second-lowest level for that time of year since 2004. The 2019 injection season included several weeks with relatively high injections: weekly changes exceeded 100 billion ft3 nine times in 2019. Certain weeks in April, June, and September were the highest weekly net injections in those months since at least 2010.
From 1 April through 31 October 2019, more than 2.569 trillion ft3 of natural gas was placed into storage in the Lower 48 states. This volume was the second-highest net injected volume for the injection season, falling short of the record 2.727 trillion ft3 injected during the 2014 injection season. In 2014, a particularly cold winter left natural gas inventories in the Lower 48 states at 837 billion ft3 – the lowest level for that time of year since 2003.
Principal contributor: Jose Villar
Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/11112019/near-record-volumes-of-natural-gas-stored/
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