U.S. Natural Gas Consumption Hits New Record

The consumption of natural gas in the United States reached a new record on January 16, 2024, the Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday.

On January 16, a record amount of natural gas was consumed in the United States Lower 48 states. A record 141.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf) was consumed on that day, beating the previous record set on December 23, 2022, the EIA said, citing estimates from S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Data source S&P Global Commodity Insights

From January 14 to January 21 of this year, natural gas consumption in the Lower 48 averaged more than 130 Bcf per day as temperatures fell and extreme wind chills and freezing rain hit the Pacific Northwest, the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and parts of Texas. Nearly half—49%--of the natural gas consumed during that period came from residential and commercial users. As a percentage of all natural gas consumed, this is higher than at the beginning of January, when residential and commercial consumers made up just 42% of the natural gas demand.

Due to the high demand, natural gas withdrawn from underground storage also hit close-to-record volumes, the EIA said, reaching 326 Bcf during the week of January 13 to January 19. This is the third highest rate of withdrawal from storage on record, the EIA said, referencing its Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report, which showed the previous records that were hit in January 2018 and February 2021.

The IEA forecast last week that lower prices and higher demand this winter would drive a return to strong growth in global natural gas consumption in 2024. According to the IEA’s Gas Market Report for Q1 of this year, natural gas demand is poised for a 2.5% growth this year, after a disappointing 0.5% growth seen last year thanks in part to last winter’s mild nature.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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