Natural gas consumption in the U.S. decreased by 1% during the week ended Oct. 16, owing to lower demand in the power and industrial sectors, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration's "Natural Gas Weekly Update" released Oct. 17.
Gas use during the review week totaled 63.3 Bcf/d, down slightly from the 63.6 Bcf/d seen a week ago. Contributing to the decline was a drop in power sector demand, which was pegged at 30.0 Bcf/d during the week, down from the 32.3 Bcf/d seen in the week prior. Industrial demand was also lower with 20.6 Bcf/d reported during the week, compared to the 21.0 Bcf/d posted a week ago. Offsetting the falls was higher demand in the residential/commercial sector, which came in at 12.6 Bcf/d for the period, up from the 10.3 Bcf/d noted a week ago.
Total U.S. demand, which includes Mexico exports, pipeline fuel use or losses, and LNG pipeline receipts, saw no change and stood at 81.5 Bcf/d.
Citing shipping data compiled by Bloomberg, the EIA said 10 LNG vessels with a capacity of 35 Bcf left the U.S. between Oct. 10 and Oct. 16. A week ago, the EIA said that 11 vessels with a capacity of 41 Bcf left the country.
Of the ten vessels, seven came from Cheniere Energy Inc.'s Sabine Pass in Louisiana, two from Cheniere's Corpus Christi terminal in Texas, and one from the Cameron LNG LLC export terminal, which is also in Louisiana.
Kinder Morgan Inc.'s Elba Island LNG terminal project imported an LNG cargo on Oct. 13 that could potentially be used as "cool down" for commissioning of its liquefaction units, according to the EIA. Citing Bloomberg, the EIA said the cargo was imported from Trinidad and Tobago.
Total gas supply for the week ended Oct. 16 came in at 98.3 Bcf/d, increasing from the 97.9 Bcf/d noted a week ago. Marketed and dry gas production was pegged at 106.3 Bcf/d and 94.0 Bcf/d, respectively, each up from the 105.6 Bcf/d and 93.4 Bcf/d noted a week prior. On the other hand, average imports from Canada ticked lower with 4.2 Bcf/d, down from the 4.5 Bcf/d seen a week ago.
For the week ended Oct. 11, net injections into storage totaled 104 Bcf, up from the five-year average build of 81 Bcf and also above the 82 Bcf increase seen during the same week a year ago. Working gas stocks amounted to 3,519 Bcf for the period, up 14 Bcf from the five-year average and 494 Bcf higher than the corresponding week a year prior.