EIA is expected to report that 76 billion cubic feet of natural gas was added to storage during the week ended July 8, according to the average prediction of 17 natural-gas analysts and traders in a Dow Jones Newswires survey.
The survey’s median result was a 77-bcf build, with estimates ranging from a 50-bcf injection to an 84-bcf build. Last year, 78 bcf was injected into storage. The five-year average build for the week is 88 bcf.
If the storage estimate is correct, inventories as of last Friday would have been at 2.603 trillion cubic feet, 2.3% below the five-year average and 8% below 2010 levels.
U.S. natural-gas stockpiles reached a record in November at 3.84 trillion cubic feet, but cold weather lifted heating demand in the following months and eliminated the surplus compared with average levels.
Stockpiles as of July 1 stood at 2.527 trillion cubic feet, 1.9% less than the five-year average. On Tuesday, the EIA said inventories could surpass 3.8 trillion cubic feet at the end of October due to high production rates and milder summer weather relative to last year.
