A decrease in natural gas consumption for power generation pulled down the total usage in the U.S. by 1% for the week ended Sept. 4, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported in its Sept. 5 "Natural Gas Weekly Update."
Gas use in the country stood at 66.7 Bcf/d, a slight decrease from 67.5 Bcf/d in the prior report week, according to the EIA. Consumption for power generation totaled 36.3 Bcf/d, down from 37.2 Bcf/d a week ago. Industrial gas use also slipped, falling to 21.4 Bcf/d from 21.7 Bcf/d. Residential and commercial use inched up to 9.0 Bcf/d from 8.6 Bcf/d. Including other sources of demand for U.S. gas — exports to Mexico, pipeline fuel and losses, and LNG pipeline receipts — total demand dipped to 84.5 Bcf/d from 85.4 Bcf/d in the previous week.
U.S. LNG exports rose week over week as 12 LNG tankers with a total of 43 Bcf left the country between Aug. 29 and Sept. 4, the EIA reported, citing shipping data compiled by Bloomberg. In the previous week, eight LNG vessels with a total of 30 Bcf departed the country. The 12 tankers included seven from Cheniere Energy Inc.'s Sabine Pass terminal in Louisiana, three from its Corpus Christi terminal in Texas, and one each from Dominion Energy Inc.'s Cove Point terminal in Maryland and the Freeport LNG Development LP terminal in Texas.
Freeport LNG on Sept. 3 shipped its first LNG commissioning cargo from the first liquefaction train at its facility. The second and third trains at the terminal are under construction and expected to begin service in January 2020 and May 2020, respectively.
While demand for gas fell this week, gas supply marginally increased to 96.7 Bcf/d from 96.2 Bcf/d a week earlier. Marketed and dry gas production also rose, clocking in at 103.9 Bcf/d and 92.5 Bcf/d, respectively, compared with 103.6 Bcf/d and 92.3 Bcf/d in the preceding week. Average net imports from Canada climbed to 4.2 Bcf/d from 3.9 Bcf/d.
Net injections into storage for the week ended Aug. 30 were 84 Bcf, well above both the five-year average of 66 Bcf and the 64 Bcf recorded during the same week in 2018. Working gas stocks were 2,941 Bcf, a number that was 82 Bcf lower than the five-year average but 383 Bcf higher than the same week a year ago.
