For this heating season we've been pitching "Supply beats demand" since mid-December '14 at $3.598:
From the Energy Information Administration:
Natural Gas Weekly Update
In the News:
Natural gas stocks enter injection season 11% below five-year average
Working natural gas in storage as of March 31, the traditional end of the heating season, totaled 1,470 billion cubic feet (Bcf), based on data from the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report. This is 180 Bcf (11%) lower than the five-year (2010-14) average. Net withdrawals during this year's heating season, which started on November 1, 2014 were 2,101 Bcf, 87 Bcf (4%) lower than the 5-year average and 857 Bcf (29%) lower than record high withdrawals last year.
A year ago, at the end of March 2014, inventories after a prolonged and severe winter were at an 11-year low and about 1,000 Bcf lower than the five-year (2009-13) average. Record net injections in 2014 brought natural gas inventories to 3,571 Bcf at the end of October, which was 7% lower than the five-year average. Injections continued during the first week in November, raising inventories to 3,611 Bcf.
While this winter was colder than normal on average across the nation, regional temperatures varied. Temperatures in the western part of the country were warmer than average, while the eastern part of the country had record low temperatures and significant snowfall. This led to high levels of natural gas consumption in the East in January, with the largest demand increase from the residential and commercial sectors because of increased space heating requirements. The Northeast region continued to experience cold snaps, which led to record consumption. On February 16, 2015, total natural gas consumption in the northeastern United States hit 43.1 Bcf, according to Bentek Energy. This was the highest level in Bentek's 10-year history, and exceeded the previous record set in January 2014 during the polar vortex by 1.2 Bcf. In addition to high levels of residential and commercial consumption, over the 2014-15 winter there was increased natural gas consumption for electric generation, which averaged 23.1 Bcf/d in January and February, 3.6 Bcf/d higher than the five-year (2010-14) average for that period, according to data from Bentek Energy.
While end-of-October natural gas stocks were at a five-year low going into the 2014-15 heating season, increased natural gas production and new pipeline projects helped to meet winter natural gas demand. From November 1 through March 31, natural gas production averaged 71.8 Bcf/d, 9% higher than the previous year and 11% higher than the five-year average for that period. Production reached a record high of 73.5 Bcf/d on December 20, 2014, according to Bentek. These levels of production were achieved despite declining rig counts. Most of the growth in production came from the Marcellus and Utica shale plays, with new infrastructure projects supporting the production levels....MUCH MORE
