Posted on 04/18/2022 12:39:51 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Before you jump to the wrong conclusion based on the title, don’t worry. The United States is nowhere near running out of natural gas that is available to be extracted from the ground and put into production. The oil and gas industry has identified more untapped natural gas resources on U.S. soil and off of our coasts than we could possibly use for the next century. But we don’t pipe natural gas from the wells straight to your homes and businesses. The gas is stored in huge underground tanks until it’s ready to be transported to its final distribution locations. Those reservoirs are currently at the lowest levels we’ve seen in years. And you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), for once this report has nothing to do with cutting off Russian exports or the war in Ukraine. We just burned so much of it over the winter that we’ve drawn down our supplies dramatically. Why? Because, to the great disappointment of Al Gore, it was far colder than normal in January, so demands on the supply system for both heating and energy generation were through the roof.
Increased heating demand for natural gas this past winter resulted in more withdrawals from U.S. natural gas storage than normal. By the end of March, the least amount of natural gas was held in U.S underground storage in the Lower 48 states since 2019.
In January, temperatures across the country were colder than normal, which increased residential, commercial, and electric power demand for natural gas. More heating demand and record-high liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports resulted in above-average withdrawals from working natural gas storage despite increased natural gas production.
Working natural gas in underground storage facilities in the Lower 48 states totaled 1,387 billion cubic feet (Bcf) as of March 31, 2022.
As noted, the total supplies in American storage facilities at the end of January were 17% lower than the previous five-year average for that time of year. In that one month, we withdrew 991 billion cubic feet of gas from those reserves. That’s the most natural gas we have withdrawn from storage in the month of January since 2012.
There’s really no need to panic, or at least not yet. Natural gas is still being extracted and as the weather improves, demand always drops in the spring, so the tanks should be back to their normal levels in a month or so. We’re nowhere near the “E” on the tank at this point.
But it’s my hope that this report will serve as an important reminder about the realities of our energy grid and how politics shouldn’t be dictating our energy policy. For all the people out there screaming to cancel construction on pipelines and “leave it in the ground,” the answer is always to just use more renewable energy from wind and solar, right? But the reality is that we don’t produce nearly enough renewable energy to take care of our most fundamental needs, particularly in the winter. It’s not even close.
Further, natural gas is the most common form of heating for buildings in the United States. 48% of residential buildings use natural gas and 36% use electric heating. The majority of that electricity is created using – you guessed it – natural gas. All of those buildings in the first category can’t generate heat using electricity even if there was enough juice on the grid. (Unless you want to tell everyone to go buy space heaters.) The infrastructure simply isn’t there and it will take a least a generation to convert all of those structures over to electric heat even if you believe that’s a good idea.
Shutting down our pipelines now and refusing drilling permits is a set of chickens that will come home to roost far more quickly than you might imagine. We saw an example of that in January, though we thankfully didn’t bottom out. When you preach to us about renewables, you are literally playing with people’s ability to survive the winter. The wind doesn’t automatically blow any harder in the winter just because you need more juice. The sun doesn’t shine any more brightly. In fact, it generally does the opposite. These anti-carbon policies that are being pushed are not backed up by science. And if you want to see people stampeding away from your green energy policies as fast as possible, just tell them they won’t be able to heat their homes next winter. (Assuming they survive long enough to come after you with pitchforks and torches.)
My feeling is that we are going to have a home heating catastrophe this Fall/Winter. Prices are skyrocketing, supplies are diminished, people will be trying to fill tanks in October, BEFORE THE ELECTION. Another reason why the Dems are toast.
The fact that NY now wants to ban the use of “Fossil Gas” (Yes, that is the focus group’s new term for NATURAL GAS) in the state is ludicrous. Right now I am sitting on my Porch with my Dog and it is 44° and we are expecting a foot or more of snow tomorrow. The whole bunch of crap from the “environmental haughty harridans” is being proven wrong every single day.
The Greenies funded by Pootie and Xi are working overtime.
QUICK! Lets ship more to other countries. After all we got plenty wind mills and solar panels right!?
I’ll bet the sight of a row of Pootie Greenies decorating the trees near your house would warm your heart...
My nat gas supplier Rider GCR has climbed to $80.00 on top of the bit of $30 and change plus fees I actually use.
Crazyville.
Let’s Go Brandon!
When the Bakken oil field was running hard, they were just burning off the natural gas because they didn’t have any way to pipe it or store it.
LOL. But we can't drill for all of it, or pipe it.
Boston Massachusetts is only about 500 miles from the Marcellus Shale fields of PA/West VA/OH - but they import LNG from Russia (or did until recently) because libs in MA and NY will not allow a pipeline to be built.
Spit. We live over the largest concentration of gas in the entire Marcellus Shale but Prince Andrew and his merry pranksters say, “NO, youse can’t get it because it’s bad gas...Gas bad. De End. Besides, Indian Point BAD. Atoms, BAD! Windmills and solar panels (Gig factory in Buffalo reprise) are da way we’re going likeitornot..”
What an arrogant Gubanor he was...
And this impacts your power bill too because of all the coal plants Hussein forced to shut down and be replaced with natural gas burning power plants. Thus, whenever the cost of natural gas goes up, the energy rider portion of your power bill goes up too.
These and more are why I put a lot of solar panels onto my roof and battery storage in my garage 11 months ago. Since then it's produced 57% of all the power I consume -- now with no natural gas bill (I converted to all electric).
Natural gas is way more efficient and dependable than solar. But I can't drill and produce my own natural gas or oil --- gubment cronies are quite effective in getting in between my energy suppliers and me with those kind of energy sources. What makes solar way better for me is the fact that so far the Dims in gubment haven't figured out how to get in between me and the sun.
Who still doesn’t understand this is by design, to starve us of cheap energy and bankrupt the middle class? Add it all up. This is an intentional plan.
At least some parts of California have now refused to allow
natural gas to be utilized in new structures.
Natural Gas prices in the state have gone up substantially.
The author fails to disclose why NG is not being replenished. It is the one fuel source that is extreme easy to replenish at any capacity.
Once I read that NG is stored in underground tanks, I knew the author didn’t understand his subject. Partial credit - it is underground, just not in tanks.
I always fill by propane tank in July or August before the first cold snaps are even thought of.
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