Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc. (EEA) released a reportyesterday warning that the North American gas market is on coursefor entering the winter heating season with dangerously low storagelevels.

“If storage injections in September and October are equal to thefive-year average for those months, the U.S. will enter the winterheating season with a little over 2.8 Tcf of working gas instorage,” said Bruce B. Henning, director at EEA. “This would bethe lowest working gas level at the beginning of a heating seasonin this decade.”

In EEA’s Pipeline Data Report, Henning points out that for thefirst time in recent history a significant portion of the deficitin storage lies in the east region, which is the major consumingregion outside of Texas. “At the end of August, working gas in theeast region is 90 Bcf below the five-year average. If east regioninjections in September and October come in at the level of thefive-year average, the working gas level at the beginning of thewinter we will be about 90 Bcf below the five-year average and 110Bcf below last year,” he said.

Henning added that current consumption is using most of theproduction capacity, leaving less to inject. “If the deficitremains at the level we expect, gas availability from storage willbe reduced by an average of 1.3 Bcf per day throughout the winterheating season.”

For a copy of EEA’s Pipeline Data Report, visit EEA atwww.eea-inc.com.

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