Every week the Energy Information Administration (EIA) releases a natural gas storage report. The report is released every Thursday at 10:30AM. In the gas industry, there is an injection season (April 1st to October 31st) and a withdrawal season (November 1st to March 31st). During injection season, natural gas is brought into market areas by pipeline and injected into storage fields (old natural gas wells or salt caverns) where the gas is held until withdrawal season. During withdrawal season the natural gas is withdrawn from storage fields and consumed by industrial, commercial, and residential customers. The amount of gas that is injected or withdrawn is a measurement of the net difference between gas being produced or imported and gas being consumed.
The EIA measures the size of the injection or the withdrawal on a weekly basis by surveying those who are involved in the natural gas storage industry. The natural gas futures market will react to the storage report (both in the short-term and the long-term); therefore, it is a good resource for buyers to watch. As an example, if it is injection season and you are looking to lock in the price of gas and the industry is expecting a larger than normal (historical average for that week) injection, you may want to hold off locking in the price until after the report comes out. In another example, if it is withdrawal season and you are looking to lock in the price of gas and the industry is expecting a larger than normal (historical average for that week) withdrawal, you may want to lock in the price before the report comes out.
Please contact your IGS Energy representative at
(877) 923-4447 if you have questions regarding NYMEX or questions on how to use any of our reports as tools for buying gas.
Click here to find your IGS Energy representative.
For more information about storage, click on the following link: Weekly EIA Natural Gas Storage Report.
