Lower 48 natural gas storage operators pulled a net 109 Bcf from their facilities in the week to Jan. 10, compared to a five-year average draw of 184 Bcf, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported.

The pull, which is higher than a 92-Bcf withdrawal forecast by an S&P Global Platts analyst survey, brought total working gas supply in the Lower 48 to 3,039 Bcf, or 494 Bcf above the year-ago level and 149 Bcf above the five-year average.

By region:

* In the East, stockpiles fell 40 Bcf on the week at 716 Bcf, 15% above a year ago.

* In the Midwest, inventories dropped 34 Bcf at 851 Bcf, 16% more than the year-ago level.

* In the Mountain region, inventories dropped 5 Bcf at 161 Bcf, 26% more than the year before.

* In the Pacific region, stockpiles declined 9 Bcf at 235 Bcf, 19% above the year before.

* In the South Central region, inventories declined 21 Bcf at 1,076 Bcf, 25% more than the year before. Of that total, 320 Bcf was in salt cavern facilities and 756 Bcf was in non-salt-cavern facilities. Working gas stocks fell 1% in salt cavern facilities from the week before and dropped 2.3% in non-salt-cavern facilities.

S&P Global Platts and S&P Global Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc.