The cold winter is setting records in the U.S. natural gas market for demand, storage withdrawals, and prices, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The week of Jan. 10 led to a record-high net withdrawal of 287 billion cubic feet from underground, natural gas storage facilities – the largest for the 20 years for which data exists.
The Jan. 10 week withdrawal broke the previous record set in the week of Dec. 13, which had broke a record set in 2008.
The Northeast demand for natural gas in heating and electricity generation caused several pipelines to issue critical notices to prevent system imbalances. Prices in the Northeast have spiked to between $30-$45 higher than the benchmark national price.
