Lower 48 working natural gas in storage finished the traditional injection season — April 1–Oct. 31 — at 3,920 Bcf, near the record-high of 4,047 Bcf reached in 2016, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Monday.

Storage has run high this fall in part because of diminished demand last spring amid lockdown orders put in place to combat the coronavirus pandemic and in part because the refill season began with relatively lofty stockpiles. Robust cooling demand over a relatively hot summer, decreased production and eased pandemic restrictions helped balance supply/demand beginning in June.

Net additions to inventories totaled 1,914 Bcf during the injection season, about 2% less than the five-year average and 23% less than the 2,571 Bcf reported during the 2019...