January Cold Snap Leads to Fourth-Largest Weekly Natural Gas Withdrawal in the U.S: EIA

Mid-January’s colder-than-normal temperatures across much of the U.S. drove higher natural gas consumption, leading to the fourth-largest weekly withdrawal from storage in the Lower 48 states, according to an Feb. 10 report published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

During the week ending Jan.24, stocks declined by 321 billion cubic feet (Bcf), which was around 70 percent higher than the five year (2020-24) average withdrawal for the same during January. U.S. natural gas storage withdrawals during January totaled close to 1,000 Bcf, as a result U.S. natural gas inventories are around four percent below their previous five-year average.

U.S. gas inventories at the start of winter 2024-25 were six percent above the previous five-year average (2019-23), despite injections into storage being below average throughout the entire injection season which runs from April to October. Lower natural gas volumes were injected nearly every week during the injection season this year than the previous five-year average, due to storage sites starting the injection season at relatively high capacity. The U.S. ended the winter 2023-24 season with 2,282 Bcf of gas in storage sites, up 25 percent compared to the same period during 2023 and 40 percent above the five-year average for March.

For the week ending Jan.24, the South-Central region of the U.S., which accounted for around 35 percent of working gas in U.S. storage, reported its fourth largest withdrawal of 136 Bcf. In the East and Midwest, gas storage stocks declined by 10 percent in the East and by 11 percent in the Midwest over the week.

Temperatures in the U.S. Southeast declined to record lows and snow fell in parts of Texas, Louisiana and the panhandle of Florida, increasing natural gas consumption. Moreover, cold weather led to marginal production declines in January due to freeze-offs, which happen when water and other liquids freeze at the wellhead.