U.S. natural gas storage capacity increased in 2017

The United States natural gas storage design capacity grew slightly by about 0.7 percent between November 2016 and November 2017, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Monday.

According to EIA, most of the incremental capacity in 2017 came from expansions to existing facilities, and expansions were heavily concentrated in the East region, where natural gas production has grown almost continually since 2009.

Demonstrated peak is the sum of the highest storage levels reached by each storage facility over the most recent five-year period, with the most recent period covering December 2012 to November 2017. EIA discovered the demonstrated peak fell by 46 billion cubic feet, or 1 percent in 2017.

EIA began tracking peak capacity metrics in 2011, and 2017 marks the first year that the demonstrated peak declined. The decline was partly because the new five-year range does not include 2012, a year that saw very high inventory levels because of record warm weather.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)