Lower 48 natural gas storage operators deposited a net 38 Bcf into inventories during the week ended April 3, above the five-year average build of 6 Bcf, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported April 9.
The build, above the 25-Bcf injection forecast by an S&P Global Platts analyst survey, brought total working gas supply to 2,024 Bcf, or 876 Bcf above the year-ago level and 324 Bcf above the five-year average.
By region:
* In the East, inventories stayed level on the week at 382 Bcf, 83% higher than a year ago.
* In the Midwest, storage levels were down by 1 Bcf at 475 Bcf, 98% more than a year earlier.
* In the Mountain region, inventories were unchanged at 92 Bcf, 44% above a year ago.
* In the Pacific region, inventories were up by 6 Bcf at 203 Bcf, 74% higher than the year before.
* In the South Central region, inventories grew by 32 Bcf, to 872 Bcf, 69% above the year-ago level. Of that total, 265 Bcf of gas was in salt cavern facilities and 607 Bcf was in non-salt-cavern storage. Working gas stocks were up 4% in salt cavern facilities from the previous week and rose 3.8% in non-salt-cavern facilities.
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