The 2024-25 winter heating season began with relatively mild temperatures, but colder-than-usual weather in January and February caused a spike in natural gas consumption across the United States. This led to a higher-than-normal rate of withdrawals from underground natural gas storage, resulting in the lowest inventory levels since 2022 by the end of March.
During January and February, the colder temperatures led to increased natural gas use in homes, businesses, and power plants. Consumption in the residential and commercial sectors averaged 97 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) during these months, marking a 16% rise from the same period in 2024. A cold snap in late January triggered the fourth-largest weekly withdrawal from storage, at 321 Bcf for the week ending January 24. In total, natural gas withdrawals in January and February reached nearly 1,650 Bcf, 33% higher than the five-year average for those months.
At the end of March, working gas inventories in the Mountain and Pacific regions were 53% and 18% higher than the five-year average, respectively. However, storage levels in other regions, including the East, Midwest, and South Central, fell below the average. By the end of December, inventories in the East and Midwest were already below the five-year average, and by the end of January, the South Central region also reported lower-than-average storage levels.
A warmer-than-normal March brought an early start to the natural gas injection season. Net injections into storage resulted in 1,786 Bcf of natural gas in underground storage facilities across the Lower 48 states by March 31, 2025.
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