Mild winter weather may lead to persistently high natural gas inventories through 2025

U.S. working natural gas inventories ended the winter heating season (November 1b—March 31) at 2,290 billion cubic feet (Bcf), 39% more than the previous five-year (2019b—23) average. Relatively high natural gas inventories all winter have contributed to record-low Henry Hub natural gas spot prices. The surplus to the five-year average grew over winter 2023—24 because of mild weather, low natural gas consumption, and high natural gas production. In our April Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), we expect natural gas inventories to remain relatively high and natural gas spot prices to remain relatively low through 2025.