Utilities withdrew 60 Bcf of natural gas from storage for the week ended Feb. 16, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Thursday. The result missed expectations, fell far short of the five-year average draw of 168 Bcf and added to downward pressure on Nymex natural gas futures.
A few minutes ahead of the 10:30 a.m. ET report, the March futures contract was down 6.1 cents at $1.712/MMBtu. The prompt month fell to around $1.689 shortly after the EIA data was released. By around 11 a.m. ET, it was down 10.0 cents to $1.673.
Prior to the report, estimates submitted to Reuters spanned withdrawals of 48 Bcf to 82 Bcf, with a median of 64 Bcf. Bloomberg’s survey, updated Thursday, produced a narrower range and a median draw expectation of 63 Bcf. NGI modeled a 65 Bcf decrease.
“A lot of problems to figure out right now with storage inventories very high,” analyst James Bevan of Criterion Research said on the online energy platform Enelyst.
The decrease for last week lowered inventories to 2,470 Bcf. Still, stocks were well above the year-earlier level of 2,205 Bcf and the five-year average of 2,019 Bcf.
Production was high during the covered period – near 105 Bcf/d – and weather-driven heating demand was modest by February standards.
By region, the Midwest and East led with draws of 31 Bcf and 27 Bcf, respectively, according to EIA. Mountain and Pacific region stocks both decreased by 5 Bcf.
The South Central posted an injection of 8 Bcf that included a 1 Bcf build in nonsalt facilities and an increase of 7 Bcf in salts.
Looking ahead to next week, analysts anticipated another seasonally weak pull.
Early estimates submitted to Reuters for the week ending Feb. 23 ranged from withdrawals of 84 Bcf to 113 Bcf, with an average decrease of 97 Bcf. That compares with a five-year average decrease of 143 Bcf.
