Natural gas storage rises 64 Bcf to 3,415 Bcf; the cushion over normal shrinks to 79 Bcf

Working gas in U.S. underground storage rose 64 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in the week ending Sept. 25 to 3,415 Bcf, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday in its weekly storage report. That leaves the Lower 48 states 79 Bcf, or 2.4%, above the 2021-25 average for this point in the year and 138 Bcf, or 3.9%, below the same week of 2025.

Natural gas prices were down about 1% at $3.08 per million British thermal units at 10:56 a.m. ET on our markets page, after the release. A Wall Street Journal headline had the market trading around $3.

The number behind the number: the surplus got smaller

A 64 Bcf build sounds healthy, and it was more than a year ago. But the five-year norm for that week was a bigger build, so the cushion over normal got smaller. Working it through from EIA's own figures:

So the surplus over the five-year average fell from 95 Bcf to 79 Bcf in one week, while the deficit to last year narrowed from 146 Bcf to 138 Bcf. Which of those two you watch decides whether this report reads as loosening or tightening. With the refill season in its final weeks, a shrinking cushion over the long-run norm is the one that shapes the winter starting point.

Where the gas went: Gulf Coast salt pulled 4 Bcf out

The regional table is where this report gets interesting. Four of the five regions added gas. The South Central region, which covers the Gulf Coast producing and export states, added just 7 Bcf, and inside it the salt caverns posted a net withdrawal of 4 Bcf.

South Central is the only region below its five-year average, and its salt facilities are 15.5% below normal and 27.3% below a year ago. Salt caverns can be filled and emptied quickly, so they are where short-term demand shows up first. The national total looks comfortable because the East and Midwest are well stocked. The region with the thinnest buffer is the Gulf Coast.

Who it hits

Most small businesses pay a utility rate that follows wholesale gas with a lag, so one week's report does not change this month's bill. It matters to owners who are about to sign a fixed-price gas contract, because those quotes are priced off the futures curve on the day you sign. For a business burning 1,000 million Btu a year, each 10-cent move in the price is $100 a year over the life of the contract.

The trades that burn gas year round, not just for heat, carry the most exposure. CheckThisBiz lists 54,058 independent restaurants, 2,934 independent bakeries and 2,865 independent laundromats and dry cleaners in Texas alone, which sits inside EIA's South Central region. We worked through what $3 gas actually costs a laundromat, a restaurant and a bakery in this piece.

What to watch

EIA's next storage report is due Oct. 8. The two figures to track are whether the five-year surplus keeps shrinking and whether South Central salt turns back to injections. Last week's report is here.

Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report; The Wall Street Journal; business counts from CheckThisBiz. Implied weekly builds and changes in the surplus are Chronicle calculations from EIA data. This is market information, not investment advice.