Washington (Platts)--3Mar2011/554 pm EST/2254 GMT
US natural gas storage stocks fell by 85 Bcf to 1.745 Tcf during the week that ended Friday, the US Energy Information Administration said Thursday. The net pull was at the high end of consensus expectations that ranged from 81 to 85 Bcf, but was well below the 124-Bcf draw reported the same week a year earlier. In the same week of 2010, EIA reported 1.754 Tcf in storage. As a result, the 48-Bcf deficit to the year-ago level shrank to 9 Bcf, while the 61-Bcf deficit to the five-year average of 1.76 Tcf fell to 15 Bcf. EIA reported a 71-Bcf withdrawal in the East, leaving inventories at 809 Bcf, compared with 872 Bcf a year ago; a withdrawal of 23 Bcf in the West to 240 Bcf, compared with 298 Bcf a year ago; and a 9-Bcf injection in the producing region to 696 Bcf, compared with 584 Bcf a year ago. Inventories now are 80 Bcf below the five-year average of 889 Bcf in the East, 18 Bcf below the five-year average of 258 Bcf in the West, and 83 Bcf above the five-year average of 613 Bcf in the producing region. --Mark Davidson, mark_davidson@platts.comSimilar stories appear in Gas Daily. See more information at http://bit.ly/GasDaily