Natural Gas Drawdown

This is a pretty startling report. Don noted it; sent it my way. Asked why we don't hear more about it.

Working gas in storage was 896 Bcf as of Friday, March 21, 2014, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net decline of 57 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 899 Bcf less than last year at this time and 926 Bcf below the 5-year average of 1,822 Bcf.

In the East Region, stocks were 419 Bcf below the 5-year average following net withdrawals of 39 Bcf. Stocks in the Producing Region were 378 Bcf below the 5-year average of 754 Bcf after a net withdrawal of 15 Bcf. Stocks in the West Region were 129 Bcf below the 5-year average after a net drawdown of 3 Bcf. At 896 Bcf, total working gas is below the 5-year historical range.

[Later: a reader says the drawdown was just as severe in Canada.]

My thoughts (unedited, and not ready for prime time):

With regard to no one talking about the natural gas drawdown, a couple of things. CNBC is as good a gauge we have in what passes for business news.

CNBC, except for a bit of new business news on the two early morning shows, is completely scripted by the producer. It has to be scripted; they have to line up guests, set up telephone interviews, etc. and that all takes time. The guests, themes are established at least three days in advance, so as to give time to get everything in order. They can't react quickly to routine reports.

Second, and this is most important: CNBC and all the news outlets are NYC-based, or East Coast based. They have a NYC / East Coast mentality. They grew up with banking and pharmaceuticals. And that's about it. They have no background in the oil and gas industry. The business schools are all economics, banking, consulting. Almost nothing about oil and gas. It is really quite amazing.

That's all opinion. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. LOL.