What is the outlook for U.S. natural gas inventories at the end of injection season? - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

In-depth analysisAugust 7, 2024 Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), August 2024Data values: U.S. Natural Gas Supply, Consumption, and InventoriesIn our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, we forecast that U.S. working natural gas inventories will be 3,954 billion cubic feet (Bcf) by the end of October, the most natural gas in U.S. storage since November 2016. We forecast less-than-average cumulative injections for the rest of the injection season (through October) because inventories were relatively well supplied in March and because we expect more U.S. consumption of natural gas than average this summer and relatively flat natural gas production. With this slower rate of inventory builds, we forecast that the difference between U.S. natural gas inventories and their previous five-year average will gradually decrease, from 39% above average in March to 6% above average in October. We forecast that injections into storage will be at or ne...