HOUSTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Working natural gas storage in the contiguous United States was 1,882 billion cubic feet (about 53.3 billion cubic meters) as of last Friday, a net decrease of 78 billion cubic feet from the previous week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report on Thursday.
At the level of 1,882 billion cubic feet, the natural gas storage decreased by 1.6 percent from this time last year, the report said.
EIA said on Wednesday that natural gas storage operators reported their largest withdrawals of the 2018-19 heating season, totaling 237 billion cubic feet for the week ending Feb. 1. This level was the 12th largest total net withdrawal of working natural gas in the Lower 48 states since 2010.
However, as winter demand season is coming to an end and shale gas production continues to rise, U.S. inventories of working natural gas is expected to increase.
The contiguous United States, or Lower 48 states, consists of the 48 adjoining states of the United States, plus the District of Columbia, which excludes the non-contiguous states of Alaska and Hawaii, and all off-shore insular areas.
Working natural gas is defined as the amount of natural gas stored underground that can be withdrawn for use.
Working natural gas storage capacity can be measured in two ways: design capacity and demonstrated maximum working gas capacity.
According to EIA, the strong growth in U.S. natural gas production will put downward pressure on prices in 2019.
