The whopping 326 Bcf of natural gas that utilities pulled from storage in the third week of January amplified concerns that capacity may prove inadequate in coming years as U.S. production further escalates to meet global LNG demand.

“As the size of North America’s gas market has ballooned in recent years, storage capacity expansions have not kept up,” said Wood Mackenzie’s Daniel Myers, senior research analyst. “Current U.S. gas storage levels are estimated to provide just enough gas for 25 days of full demand coverage, some of the lowest levels in the last 10 years. This metric will remain in a similar place going into next year’s winter and may soon expose the market to even more volatile price fluctuations in the years ahead.”

At issue: The latest storage print...