Lower 48 natural gas storage operators put a net 98 Bcf into inventories during the week ended Sept. 28, above the five-year-average build of 84 Bcf, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported.

The injection, which came in higher than the S&P Global Platts expectation of 85 Bcf, brought total working gas supply in the Lower 48 to 2,866 Bcf, or 636 Bcf below the year-ago level and 607 Bcf below the five-year average.

By region:

* In the East, storage levels rose 34 Bcf on the week at 763 Bcf, 11% under the year before.

* In the Midwest, stockpiles were up 36 Bcf at 836 Bcf, down 15% from a year ago.

* In the Mountain region, stockpiles climbed 4 Bcf at 177 Bcf, 20% below the year-ago level.

* In the Pacific region, storage levels rose 3 Bcf at 262 Bcf, 16% under a year ago.

* In the South Central region, storage levels grew 22 Bcf at 829 Bcf, 26% under the year-ago level.

Of that total, 181 Bcf was in salt cavern facilities and 648 Bcf was in non-salt-cavern facilities. Working gas stocks were up 5% in salt cavern facilities from the week before and gained 2.2% in non-salt-cavern facilities.

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