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The EIA Natural Gas Storage Report is the weekly release from the U.S. Energy Information Administration that estimates how much working natural gas sits in underground storage in the Lower 48 states, and how that figure moved since the prior week. This guide explains what each table and column means, so you can read the release, cite it and download its data correctly. It is a reading guide, not market or trading advice.
What the EIA natural gas storage report is
EIA publishes the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report at ir.eia.gov/ngs/ngs.html. The page reports working gas in underground storage for the Lower 48 states. As read on 2026-11-07, the current release covered the week ending October 30, 2026, was released November 5, 2026 at 10:30 a.m., and listed November 13, 2026 as the next release. Treat those dates as a dated example: the page is replaced each week.
Searchers also call it “EIA natural gas storage” or the “EIA storage report”; all three phrases point to this same weekly release. Volumes are given in Bcf, billion cubic feet. The page notes that totals may not equal the sum of components because of independent rounding.
Who runs it and what it covers
The data come from EIA Form EIA-912, “Weekly Underground Natural Gas Storage Report”, as stated on EIA’s weekly natural gas landing page (eia.gov/naturalgas/weekly). The report covers stock levels, net withdrawals or injections, and comparisons with the year-ago level and the five-year average. EIA reports five regions: East, Midwest, Mountain, Pacific and South Central, with South Central split into Salt and Nonsalt. The state lists for each region are in EIA’s notes and definitions page.
How to read and download the report
- Open the report page at ir.eia.gov/ngs/ngs.html and note the week-ending date and release date at the top.
- Read the historical comparisons table: stocks by region for the report week and the prior week, net change, implied flow, year-ago stocks and the five-year average (2021-25 in the release read), each with percent change.
- Use the chart of working gas against the five-year range, where the shaded band shows the historical minimum to maximum.
- Check the sampling variability table before treating a small weekly difference as meaningful. It gives the coefficient of variation for stocks and the standard error for net change, and a history can be downloaded starting from April 2015.
- Download the data as summary text, CSV or JSON from the page, or use the history spreadsheet and the five-year averages spreadsheet linked there.
- Open “Notes and definitions” and “Methodology” before citing a figure in a paper, brief or dataset.
Stocks, net change and implied flow
Stocks are the working gas level at the end of the report week. Net change reflects all events in the week, including injections, withdrawals and reclassifications. Implied flow, by EIA’s definition, represents movements of working natural gas into or out of underground storage facilities, and it excludes reportable reclassifications of 4 Bcf or more from the weekly net change. EIA adds that implied flow may contain the effects of unpublished net revisions to working gas levels of less than 4 Bcf. So net change and implied flow can differ, and the difference is explained by reclassifications, not by an error in the table.
Revisions and sampling error
EIA links a revision policy and a revision archive file from the report page, and a document on differences between monthly and weekly data. A weekly figure is an estimate with published variability, so cite the release date and week-ending date together, as you would cite a dataset version. See our entries on data citation principles and dataset landing pages for the general practice.
Strengths and limits
- Strength: one regional table with year-ago and five-year comparisons, plus machine-readable CSV and JSON downloads.
- Strength: the variability table and the methodology and revision pages are published alongside the numbers, which supports reproducible reuse.
- Limit: the report covers working gas in underground storage in the Lower 48 only, not other storage or other regions.
- Limit: weekly estimates carry sampling error and can be revised; read the variability table and revision policy first.
- Limit: the release is a snapshot. For any series you cite, record the release date, because the landing page changes weekly.
Companion EIA resources
These are linked from EIA’s own report page, as read on 2026-11-07. EIA’s descriptions are summarized, not quoted.
| Resource | What EIA provides |
|---|---|
| Notes and definitions (ir.eia.gov/ngs/notes.html) | Definitions of implied flow and net change, and the state lists for the five regions |
| Methodology page | The full estimation methodology for weekly underground storage estimates |
| Revision policy and archive file | How revisions are handled, and revision data in a separate file |
| History and five-year average spreadsheets | Downloadable historical data and the five-year averages |
| Weekly Natural Gas Storage Supplement | A companion publication listed on the EIA weekly landing page |
| Differences between monthly and weekly data | EIA’s own explanation of how the two data sets differ |
For how to find and describe datasets in general, see metadata and the FAIR data principles.
FAQ
What does the EIA natural gas storage report measure?
Working natural gas in underground storage in the Lower 48 states, in Bcf, by region, with net change and comparisons to last year and the five-year average.
How often is the EIA storage report released?
Weekly. In the release read on 2026-11-07, the report was released Thursday, November 5, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. and the next release was listed for November 13, 2026. EIA publishes a release schedule linked from the page.
Can I download the EIA natural gas storage data?
Yes. The report page offers summary text, CSV and JSON downloads, plus history and five-year average spreadsheets.
Why do net change and implied flow differ?
Implied flow excludes reportable reclassifications of 4 Bcf or more; net change includes them.
Sources
- U.S. EIA, Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report, ir.eia.gov/ngs/ngs.html (read 2026-11-07)
- U.S. EIA, Notes and definitions, ir.eia.gov/ngs/notes.html (read 2026-11-07)
- U.S. EIA, Natural Gas Weekly Update landing page, eia.gov/naturalgas/weekly (read 2026-11-07)
