Working gas storage in the contiguous United States was 3,195 billion cubic feet in the week ending Dec. 31, a net decrease of 31 billion cubic feet from the previous week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Thursday in a report.

The total working gas storage decreased by 4.6 percent from this time last year, or up 3.1 percent above the five-year average, according to the EIA’s Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report.

The United States is now the world’s leading exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG) as LNG exports from the country topped 7 million tonnes (7.7 million tons) in December, according to a CNN report on Wednesday, citing ship-tracking data from ICIS LNG Edge.

The storage of working gas in the United States usually turns to decrease in November and continues to drop in April when heating season ends in the country, according to previous data.

Working gas is defined as the amount of natural gas stored underground that can be withdrawn for use. Its storage capacity can be measured in two ways: design capacity and demonstrated maximum working gas capacity.

The contiguous United States consists of the 48 adjoining states of the United States, plus the District of Columbia, and excludes the non-contiguous states of Alaska and Hawaii, and all off-shore insular areas.

As the world’s important energy producers and consumers, the United States and China have great potential in energy cooperation, experts say.

According to the latest release from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in November 2021 alone, China reported 17.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas production, up 4.4 percent year on year.

During the first 11 months of 2021, China imported a total of 109.76 million tons of natural gas, soaring 21.8 percent year on year, NBS data showed.
Source: Xinhua