Natural gas demand in the U.S. was almost unchanged during the week ended Feb. 28 amid diverging trends across consuming sectors while supply was higher due to rising production and imports, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its latest "Natural Gas Weekly Update" released March 1.
Total U.S. consumption of natural gas in the last week of February averaged 75.0 Bcf/d versus 74.7 Bcf/d in the previous week.
While power burn logged a 4% uptick from the prior-week level as it rose from 22.9 Bcf/d to 23.9 Bcf/d, residential/commercial-sector consumption notched a 2% slump over the same period as it faltered from 30.0 Bcf/d to 29.3 Bcf/d. Industrial-sector demand held near steady at averages of 21.9 Bcf/d last week and 21.8 Bcf/d in the current review period.
Natural gas exports to Mexico were reportedly up 1% week over week at an average at 4.3 Bcf/d. Natural gas pipeline flows to the Sabine Pass liquefaction terminal rose from 2.4 Bcf/d in the prior week to 3.6 Bcf/d in the current report period, with five vessels carrying a combined 17.6 Bcf of LNG seen to have left the facility from Feb. 22 to Feb. 28, and one tanker with an LNG-carrying capacity of 3.5 Bcf seen loading at the terminal on Feb. 28.
The EIA reported that a tanker with an LNG-carrying capacity of 2.97 Bcf was docked and loading at Dominion Energy Inc.'s Cove Point liquefaction facility on Feb. 28, and is anticipated to depart in the next 24-48 hours. Although no natural gas feedstock deliveries to Cove Point has yet been reported, implied pipeline feedgas deliveries to the terminal are said to have averaged 0.45 Bcf/d in the past two weeks and reached 0.8 Bcf/d on Feb. 28.
Overall U.S. supply of natural gas climbed by 1% week on week, from 83.8 Bcf/d to 84.6 Bcf/d. Dry production posted a 1% gain week over week as it grew from 78.0 Bcf/d to 78.5 Bcf/d, while net imports from Canada logged a 4% uptick over the same period as it rose from 5.4 Bcf/d to 5.6 Bcf/d.
Total working gas stocks currently sit at 1,682 Bcf, or 680 Bcf below the year-ago level and 372 Bcf below the five-year average of 2,054 Bcf, after the EIA detailed a net 78-Bcf withdrawal in its latest storage data for the week ended Feb. 23. The reported inventory draw was well below the 118-Bcf five-year-average pull but well above the 7-Bcf year-ago drawdown.
The EIA sees storage draws at the five-year average for the remainder of the withdrawal season leaving overall inventories at 1,330 Bcf on March 31, which is 22% below the five-year average and the second-lowest end-of-season level since 2010. The record low end-of-season storage is 837 Bcf, reached at the close of the 2013-14 heating season.
