Increased heating demand for natural gas this past winter resulted in more withdrawals from U.S. natural gas storage than normal. By the end of March, the least amount of natural gas was held in U.S underground storage in the Lower 48 states since 2019.

In January, temperatures across the country were colder than normal, which increased residential, commercial, and electric power demand for natural gas. More heating demand and record-high liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports resulted in above-average withdrawals from working natural gas storage despite increased natural gas production.

Working natural gas in underground storage facilities in the Lower 48 states totaled 1,387 billion cubic feet (Bcf) as of March 31, 2022. Inventories were 17% lower than the previous five-year average (2017–21) for that time of year, according to our Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Natural Gas Monthly and Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report Note: We estimated end-of-month values for February and March from the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report.

Temperatures were relatively mild across the United States from October through mid-January. Net withdrawals from underground storage facilities in the Lower 48 states during January totaled 991 Bcf—the most natural gas withdrawn from storage during any January since 2012.

Source: Graph by U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

In January 2022, population-weighted heating degree days (a measure of how cold weather is) were 9% higher than the previous 10-year average, which led to higher-than-normal withdrawals in January.
Source: EIA