Totalnatural gas demand and supply in the United States climbed during the weekended May 4, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its latest"Natural Gas WeeklyUpdate" released May 5.
TheEIA reported that overall U.S. gas demand during the report period was 4.6%higher than in the previousweek amid demand gains across all major sectors.
Residential/commercial-sectordemand notched a 12.2% week-on-week uptick attributed to somewhat coolerweather in the Northeast and Midwest, as power burn rose by 3.9% from theweek-ago level and industrial-sector consumption increased by 0.7% over thesame period. Exports to Mexico added to the upside, climbing by 1.8% week overweek.
TotalU.S. natural gas supply logged a 0.7% gain versus the prior-week figure,largely attributed to a 0.3% week-on-week increase in dry production. Importsfrom Canada rose by 7.9% on the week on the back of increased gas flows to allregions, while LNG sendout fell by 40.8% week over week but remained a minorcontributor to overall supply.
Interms of inventories, the latest storage data from the EIA outlined a net68-Bcf injection tostocks for the week ended April 29 that marked the third straight week of netinjections, taking total inventories to 2,625 Bcf, or 861 Bcf above theyear-ago level and 836 Bcf above the five-year average of 1,789 Bcf. Thereported storage addition compared against a 64-Bcf five-year-average build anda 77-Bcf injection seen in the corresponding week in 2015.
Thusfar in the 2016 injection season, the cumulative net storage build is at 145Bcf, versus the five-year average of 183 Bcf and the year-ago tally of 292 Bcf.
Althougha slow start to the current injection season has put the 2016 refill seasonwell behind the pace of previous injection seasons, working gas stocks remainnear record-highs for this time of year, the EIA said. "Working gas stocksas of last Friday were 40 Bcf above the previous five-year (2011-15) maximumfor this time of year, which occurred in 2012. This surplus compared with the2012 record level gained 38 Bcf during the week ending April 29."